For What You Have
by Scouse
Summary: [Complete]Sequel to For What it's Worth. Can Sawyer and Ana put aside their continuing differences and keep their recent relationship alive when life on the island takes a turn for the worse? Sana, Jate, Shayid, Chindy.
1. Chapter 1

Title: For What You Have

Rating: T, maybe a little stronger in places so be warned.

Pairing: Sana, Jate, Shayid, Libby/Michael, Charlie/Claire/Locke.

Summary: Sequel to For What it's Worth.

Warnings: May be some swearing and this chapter starts with a sex-scene.

Status of fic: WIP

Author's Notes: Told you guys I couldn't contain myself! Here is the sequel you've been waiting for. I hope I can finish this one like I did FWiW. And I hope you like this chapter. There's some of those 'pressing matters' that you wanted to start with. And d'ya know? I found it so exhausting to write mutliple characters. Blummin' nora!

Disclaimer: I own nothing Lost wise. Nor do I pretend to.

**For What You Have.**

Chapter 1.

His breath was hot, scalding her skin when he blew it out. It fanned across her like unseen flames, licking at her, caressing her, moulding to her body which was cold from the chill in the evening air.

His hands were everywhere, all at once, like she wanted his lips to be. Callused and burning, they followed the trail that his breath had blazed before and in response she dug her short, bitten down nails into his shoulders, leaving tiny, red crescent-moons in their wake.

Tree bark scraped at her back, scratched at her skin but she didn't care. They were both beyond caring about their environment. Beyond caring that at any moment at all a wild boar, or a polar bear, or the creature, the monster that was known to stalk through the jungle, might discover them. That the Others could come for them at any second and then they would be dead for sure before they had even reached their zenith…Or something far, far worse could happen upon them in the throws of their passion…

"Sawyer? Sawyer? Are you out there? Ana? Ana-Lucia?"

Sawyer felt as though he had been doused with a bucket of ice water, his motions halting as they both became silent and still, though they remained clinging together in the hopes that they could finish what they had started once the threat of discovery had passed.

Ana-Lucia gritted her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut so tight that the pressure, and her lack of breath, made brilliant flashes of colour dance in the darkness of her eyelids. Together they held their breath, hoping, praying that whoever it was that had been sent to find them, most likely on the orders of the 'Good Doctor', would pass by, thinking that they weren't there and move on, leaving them in peace.

They weren't that lucky, it seemed. Fate obviously had other plans which involved screwing up theirs.

"Come on, guys. I know you're out there! I saw you walking up from the bloody beach!"

Charlie. Charlie 'You All Everybody' Pace. _Persistent _was his middle name. _Annoying_ was the other.

Ana-Lucia heard Sawyer groan in frustration as he moved away from where he had pressed her into the thankfully large tree trunk that concealed them from the view of the meddling Britton. Charlie wasn't all bad, even if he did have god-awful timing and an appalling singing voice, but right at that moment, Ana herself could have quiet happily and guiltlessly garrotted him with his own guitar strings.

"I'm gonna_ kill _him." Sawyer ground out between his clenched teeth, forehead pressed down onto her shoulder heavily, making her muscles and bone beneath it ache. "I'm gonna take that guitar and shove it up his a-"

Ana chuckled, deep in her throat so that only Sawyer would hear it, cutting him off from his ranting and pushing him away.

"Deal with it, Cowboy." she growled, snatching up her clothes from about their feet and tugging them on as swiftly as she could. Her eyes flickered upwards as she worked, taking in her partner-in-crime's form, still partially naked where he stood unmoving. Her dark eyes flashing at him, part amused and part just as unfulfilled as he was as she wandered around the tree with a final glance over her shoulder and then disappeared from sight towards the man that had put pains to their recreation. Towards the man that Sawyer was contemplating murdering in many different and creative ways.

"Where the _hell_ have you been!" he heard Charlie query, his voice rising dramatically as he spotted Ana-Lucia. "Michael called a group meeting like donkey's years ago! Everyone's waiting on you and Sawyer!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Ana grunted in response and Sawyer smirked, imagining the look on her face as he pulled his own shirt on over his head and re-buckled his jeans. "Am I not allowed to have time for girl-things?" she demanded and he had to stifle a laugh at her use of words. 'Girl-things' his ass!

"Ah, yeah, sorry, anyway…" Charlie stuttered nervously in reply, changing the subject as hastily as he could, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of what she had just insinuated. "Have you seen Sawyer anywhere? D'you know where he is?"

"He'll turn up." Ana replied, enigmatically, a definite smirk in her tone of voice as their footsteps through the jungle became quieter and further away from the topic of their conversation's hiding place. "He always does."

oOo  
The minute that he stepped into the mouth of the cave where the small group of survivors had chosen to hold their 'council meeting' in, he could feel the weight of their glares upon him. Jack's more so than anyone else's, although Sayid's glare came a close second in forceful irritation.

Sawyer was the 'bad-guy' once more, in all of their eyes. He had held them up. He had made them wait for him, though no such anger seemed to be focused upon his counterpart where she sat languidly against the wall of the cave, considering him with a knowing smirk.

"Sorry to hold up your little _pow-wow_, fellas." he announced, flashing his challenging grin around the circle before finding his own spot on the ground, across from Ana-Lucia and matching her glare with his own. "Got distracted."

"I'll bet you did." Jack muttered bitterly beneath his breath before turning away from the blonde man who irritated him so, and giving his entire attention to Michael. "Michael, do you want to start now?"

Michael nodded in response, rubbing a large, powerful hand across the back of his neck, obviously contemplating what he was about to say and how he was going to put it across to the gathering around him.

Firelight flickered, lighting his face from below, only serving to illuminate just how tired he was, just how worried and exhausted he felt. He'd not been sleeping, that was clear for anyone who cared to look to see. He simply sat up all night thinking, staring not at the sea like so many people did when they were troubled or grieving. He sat with his back to the crashing waves, the thunderous surf. He sat and he stared into the absolute dark of the jungle. The shifting shadows and the creaking trees. His eyes burned through it all seeking the one thing that he knew he was not likely to find there.

"I want to get my son back." he said finally, patting the head of the yellow Labrador sitting faithfully by his side for what was possibly the first time. The dog seemed to sense Michael's distress, his need for some sort of comfort, and rested his broad, heavy head upon the man's knee. "I'm gonna need some help putting together a search party. I wanted to ask for you to help me find, Walt. Whoever will come is welcome."

Sawyer watched closely, swinging his gaze around the entire group as they failed to meet Michael's pleading eyes. Each head bowed as the stricken man looked at them in question.

"Michael, I know you want to rescue Walt, we all do, but we don't even know if he's still-" Jack began placidly, palms raised in a calming gesture towards the other man.

"He's alive!" Michael bit back in response, swinging his heated glare onto the doctor, darkened by a livid frown. "I know he is!"

"Because of a message on a computer? A computer that's been down in that hatch for at least sixteen years. That could have been anyone and you know it. We need more information before we go rushing head long into something that might endanger everyone of us here." Jack soothed and Michael's gaze whipped around the gathering as people nodded and mumbled their agreement. They took Jack's side. Everyone always took Jack's side.

"You saved my ass, Brother. Seems like I owe you one." Sawyer announced suddenly and resolutely, clearing his throat and the gratitude swept over Michael's face like a wave, washing over his features.

"I'll go too." Locke spoke from where he stood, apart from the group, on the edge of the cave. No one trusted him anymore, it seemed, since the Boone incident. Even Sawyer himself had been wary of the older man, until he had come to him that night when he had thought that his world had been crashing down about him once more and had offered him a lectured about the migration habits of wild geese…and that had changed his mind in the process, kept him from making possibly the biggest mistake of his life. Letting the past continue to rule him.

"I'll be glad to have you." Michael responded with a nod of his head. "Both."

"Do you even _know _where you're going to look?" Jack demanded from his place at the head of the circle. He really did hate to lose control of a situation and that made Sawyer's smirk return, wider than before. "Do you even know which direction to head in first?"

"Ali Baba there has those maps." Sawyer pointed out, waving a hand in Sayid's direction. He sat beside Shannon who was still pale, still recovering from her gunshot wound, but alive, and she gripped onto the Iraqi's arm as if it was the only thing that anchored her to life…and the only thing that could protect her from the woman who had shot her. That made Sawyer's irritation prickle slightly, though it didn't seem to be bothering Ana-Lucia at the moment, plus he guessed that their reaction was a natural one to have. He'd probably be the same, were he in Sayid's shoes. "The one's he stole from Frenchie."

"We do not know what they mean." Sayid countered, with a slight shake of his head, flashing a wary glance at Jack who clenched his teeth, grinding them at Sawyer's determination to oppose his managerial opinion, his self-appointed leadership.

Sawyer shrugged in reply finally. "All we need is a drawin' to show us which way we're goin'."

"Can you read a map?" Sayid demanded, barely after Sawyer had finished speaking. "Can you read it with no compass, with no idea where exactly you are or where you are going?"

"We can tell roughly where we are from the lay of the land," Locke injected drawing glances of curiosity, thanks and irritation alike from those surrounding the fire, though he seemingly ignored all of them. "From up there on the mountains. We'll be able to look down and match it up to the map…like a jigsaw puzzle."

Jack gave an incredulous laugh at Locke's words, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to draw strength or to restrain his temper, which Sawyer couldn't be sure.

"It's not that simple, John." he stated after a long pause. "What happens when you find where you're going? What happens when you come face to face with these…_Others_, that Ana-Lucia and her group have warned us about? Are you going to fight them, John? All three of you?" his gaze squared with Locke's still smiling blue one and he gave his head another disbelieving shake. "You're good, John, but not that good."

"Four." announced the Nigerian man, thickset and heavy built, from where he knelt beside Ana and Libby. "I am through running. We must make a stand, not just for the child's sake…but for our own as well."

"Five then." Sayid sighed reluctantly from where he sat, arm wrapped tight and protective about Shannon's slim shoulders. "If you want to have any chance of success then you will need someone who can read the maps properly. And you will need my…_other_ skills…" his dark eyes glazed over slightly with memory before he focused them surprisingly onto Sawyer, revealing that they were remembering the same incident. The bamboo episode that both of them had tried to forget but had not yet succeeded in doing so.

Shannon clutched at his arm tighter, drawing his gaze down from the blonde southerner's to meet with hers. Her words so soft that they went unheard by any but Sayid, though it was clear from her face that she was begging him not to go.

Ana-Lucia took that chance to intervene, clearing her throat and arresting the attention of the group.

"I'll go too."

The words rang around the cave, though they were not Ana's and her deep brown stare narrowed as she recognised the voice's owner. Sawyer shifted, readying himself to spring to his feet and cross the small distance to restrain Ana if need be but she merely folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the cave wall.

"You wanna wait you're turn, Sister?" Ana growled but the previously silent Kate ignored her, focusing instead upon Michael.

"I want to help you find Walt." she spoke to the man and he rewarded her with an increasingly rare smile.

"I'm going too!" Ana interrupted but before Kate could respond angrily or Michael could extend his gratitude, Locke's murmuring tone curled out, diffusing the potentially volatile situation…or perhaps creating an even more dangerous one.

"We only need six." he smiled, glancing up at the sky and canopy of jungle trees as if all the answers resided up in their heights. "More will slow us down, will jeopardize the success of our excursion. Too many feet, too much noise."

Ana shook her head violently, sending her shadowy hair shivering out around her shoulders, gritting her teeth together. Sawyer knew that glare only too well and he hoped, for Locke's sake, that he was as smooth a customer as he had been previously when he had dished out advice and kept himself, Sawyer, from doing something that he would have regretted the following day.

"No way! You know I was going to volunteer before she interrupted!" Ana seethed, waving her hand in Kate's direction, not concerned with how petty her words actually sounded. "You can't tell me not to go! You need all the help you can get! The Others-"

Locke shook his head, though not as harshly as Ana had, and he fixed her with his blue, knowing gaze.

"I know that Kate can track," he began, talking over Ana's attempts at countering that comment. "And I want to be out there with people who I know what they are capable of."

"What about Eko?" she snapped.

"We've hunted together a few times. I trust him and his ability." Locke never once raised his voice to her, even when she seemed so intent on shouting at him and it only serving to increase her rage further. Sawyer was in half a mind to get up from his seat and leave before the real fireworks started.

"And you don't trust me, is that it? Bullsht!" she hissed, rising to her feet suddenly and fisting her hands at her hips. "You _know_ what I'm capable of!"

Sawyer could sense where events were heading. An all out war was imminent and he was receiving looks and disapproving glances from the other survivors. They obviously thought that Ana-Lucia was now _his_ problem, that he needed to keep her in check, under control…and there was only one way that he could do that. Only one way that he could keep her from throttling John Locke where he stood.

He needed to piss her off. Get her angry at him.

"Who's gonna keep an eye on my stash if you come too, Chica?" he called to her, a cocky twist to his lips as she turned to him as if she couldn't quite believe what she had just heard him say.

"_S'cuse_ me!" she raised an eyebrow. That was the only indication that fury now boiled within her veins. "I ain't your damn housekeeper!"

"Someone needs to run my empire while I'm away, Sugar." he responded.

The people sat around the fire, witnessing whatever it was that was taking place before their very eyes, shifted uncomfortably or coughed into their hands or even began their own conversations, trying to keep themselves from gawking at the fiery pair suddenly squaring off in opposing corners.

"Okay!" Michael announced in a loud voice, covering the tension filled silence. "Six people, a map and it looks like we have a plan. That's all I wanted to say really."

Ana's glare flickered to Michael briefly as she chewed on the inside of her cheek before she nodded her head in a curt bob and strode from the cave, escaping as fast as she could back to the beach, quite probably to turf Sawyer's belongings out onto the sand outside their shelter. It wouldn't have surprised him really and yet he didn't relish the thought of being on his own with her that night. She knew too many ways to physically hurt a man.

He stood slowly as the gathering filtered away, Jack still shaking his head and attempting to talk Kate out of going, and stretched out his muscles, already stiff from sitting upon the hard ground.

"Good luck, Man." Michael called from the cave's innards and Sawyer snorted, turning his gaze once more to the path that lead back to the beach and to his impending confrontation.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need it…"

-oOo- 


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Okay, just so you guys all know, I've re-written parts of this chapter and changed it around a bit as they way I'd written it before Ana-Lucia was WAY out of character. So could you re-read this bit for me and tell me if it's sounding a bit better? I'd be ever so grateful to you all, thanks chickies!

**Chapter 2.**

Breathe in. Hold it. One…two…three…four…five. Breathe out. Breathe in. Hold it. One…two…three…four…five. Breathe out.

She tried desperately to calm herself, drawing air in slowly and rhythmically in an attempt to keep fury from pounding through her veins during her journey back to the beach alone.

It was not, however, working. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how many times she repeated Libby's mantra of 'learn to let things go' over and over in her head until she was muttering the words aloud through bared teeth. Even the struggle of walking across the uneven surface of the sand did little to distract her from her rage, serving only to incense her further.

Deep down she wanted to believe that the decision that had been made, not allowing her to join the rescue team, was merely a misunderstanding. A case of bad communication or perhaps even bad luck and timing on her own part. But she knew that Kate had been out to piss her off and she had succeeded in her task. She had accomplished what she had set out to do and the fact that Ana was powerless to stop her emotions running away with her so violently only fanned the flames.

Then there were the others. John Locke, Sayid, even Sawyer had been more than happy to choose the slight brunette over her, the woman that he was currently living with. Alright, Locke's lack of support she could deal with. Sayid's she had expected. But Sawyer's? She had thought that their relationship would have counted for something when she had been back there in the ring. Something more than a casual jungle-fuck and warm body at his back…and yet he had humiliated her. Shown her up in front of their small survivor society and the light dancing in his eyes had told her that he had done so on purpose. He had provoked her. In front of everyone. In front of Kate.

"Take a walk, Cowboy." she growled from where she knelt stoking their fire back to blazing heights with more force than was required. She had heard his slow, shuffling approach, his feet dragging in reluctance. He knew all too well that she was angry, beyond angry even. She was livid and he had taken his time following her, obviously not relishing the thought of what was about to pass between them and though that was a slight sliver of comfort to her, Ana refused to glance up at him, into his wary face and let him try and '_sweet-talk_' his way back into her good graces…and her bed.

"You gonna let me talk before you jump down my throat?" he queried, voice deceptively level and even. Smooth. She heard him move closer, stepping around the fire towards her but Ana halted him abruptly before he could move an inch further, jabbing the flaming stick that she had been stabbing into the depths of the fire, directly at him.

"I said leave me alone." Her tone was dangerous now, her eyes snapping upwards and watching warily as he slipped his hands deep into his jeans pockets and shrugged at her. "I don't want to hear any of your excuses, trying to justify what you just did to me!"

Again Sawyer shrugged in nonchalance, sitting where he was upon the opposing side of the crackling firewood in silence. His blue eyes, reflecting the sparks of amber deep within them, considered her with an amused, knowing light and Ana fought against the urge to continue yelling at him. That was what he wanted. To prove himself right. She had never been one to let sleeping dogs lie. She wasn't able to let something go until she had mulled it over and cogitated about it to the point of exhaustion of both the topic and herself. It was a trait inherited from her Tia Lila. Analyse everything. Overlook nothing. And Sawyer, sat smirking at her as he leaned back onto his elbows languidly. Apparently he thought that he knew her so well.

She tried desperately to swallow her angry words and prove him wrong by giving him the silent treatment. She tried desperately, gritting her teeth, biting her tongue to quash the urge to lunge across the fire-pit and beat the stupid smug grin that lingered upon his lips from his features but it was more than she could bear. Her fury boiled anew at his arrogant smile and she could hold her words back no longer.

"You know? You are an arrogant son of a bitch coming over here after what you just pulled…" she snorted across the flames, throwing the piece of burning wood from her hands before fisting them at her sides, deep in the cold sand. And he laughed. Had the audacity to chuckle at her as if he had read her like a book. It didn't matter that he actually had.

"I coulda told you that one a long time ago, Sweetness. I ain't never pretended to be somethin' I'm not." he responded lightly, leaning forwards and resting his elbows onto his knees, lacing his fingers together loosely.

Ana-Lucia shot to her feet as if she had been stung, grinding the sand still trapped within her fists harder, the tiny shards and grains prickling her palms and making them itch almost as much as the desire to use them against the blonde southerner before her did.

Her jaw was clenched too tight for her to offer him a reply and instead she scuffed her booted foot into the sand sending a shower towards him and making him flinch, throwing an arm up to cover his face and protect his eyes.

"You just don't want me to go because I'd ruin your chances at getting into 'Little Miss Perfects' pants!" she managed to accuse finally, and she made to stalk past him, away into the night, while he was occupied with rubbing the sand and grit from his eyes. He was too fast, however, or she was too slow and his free hand lashed out, catching hold of her ankle to stop her escaping and sending her sprawling into the sand on her front.

"Call me crazy, Darlin'…" he growled from between his teeth with the effort of trying to retain his firm grasp upon her leg and dodge a kick from her free foot at the same moment. "But I'd say you're soundin' a little bit _jealous_ there."

Ana fought harder against him upon hearing his words, letting their meaning, their teasing and mockery filter through to her furious, red-clouded mind. She managed to roll onto her back so that she was in a better position to fend him off, sand now coating them both, but she didn't care. All she wanted was to be free from him at that instant so that she could land one of her granite-hard fists into his face and leave him there alone. But Sawyer, since his slow recovery from the wound in his shoulder, had proved himself stronger than she was, even if to do so he had to pin her down with his weight atop hers.

She was powerful. He could feel it. Her ferocity and her force and her fury was breathtaking and he could feel her muscles coiling and straining beneath him and her skin.

She ground clenched teeth together in strain. Bone clashed against bone, responding with a squeal of protest and then he laughed at her again. The sound reverberating through from his chest into hers, ricocheting about inside her as if she had been the one who had released such a declaration of amusement.

"Here we go again, Darlin'. We already tried this once today, remember? But I'm willin' to give it another shot if you're _that_ desperate." his eyes narrowed though not as smilingly as they had previously at her expense. He was too busy, trying too hard to keep himself on top instead of being thrown off and allowing Ana to rip away. She could see that the sheer effort was exhausting him…as much as it was for her. "I take it the standard missionary's alright by you this evening, huh?" he tried again to regain control of the situation by using the only weapon that he had left against her. Mockery. That was how Sawyer dealt with almost every situation. Crack a joke. Tell a gag. Taunt someone. Bestow a new nickname. While Sawyer thought that he knew her well enough to second guess her every move and reaction, she knew him well enough to realise what he was actually trying to do. Distract her.

Ana let forth a frustrated cry wrenched from between clenched teeth, ripping from her throat until it was raw, loud enough so that it resounded down the beach and automatically drew stares from the other survivors there as if by magnetic impulses.

"Yo dude?"

Hurley.

Ana-Lucia would have kissed the large man at that moment if Sawyer hadn't been pressing down on top of her.

"Hey Ana? You okay there?" his tone was unsure, obviously wary of what Sawyer's reaction would be, but beneath that, deep down, concern made his words waver. Coloured his eyes as she strained to look up at him in the flickering firelight. "Dude, don't you think you should, like, let her up? I mean, no means '_no_', dude. Your Mama never teach you that?"

Sawyer pressed his forehead down onto her shoulder as he had earlier that evening when they had been forced up against each other in a more passionate embrace, though she wanted nothing more than to shirk him away right then.

"You wanna mind your own, _Slim_?" Sawyer sighed, anger beginning to creep into his own voice as he looked up, matching Hurley's worried glare with his own, darker one.

"Dude," Hurley replied, shaking his curly haired head resolutely and folding his arms across his wide chest stoically. He wasn't, it seemed, going anywhere. "I think you should let her up."

"Yeah,_ Sawyer_, let me up…" Ana added, her tone bitter, eyes boring up into his as he sighed again and slowly shifted his weight, sitting back on his heels. She took her chance then, to scrabble away, standing and dusting herself down beside Hurley. She hissed something in Spanish beneath her breathe, making Hurley wince slightly before she spun on her heel and began striding away, the large man following in her wake, asking her if she was 'okay' and demanding to know if Sawyer had hurt her. But she didn't respond further that a nod or a shake of her head. Too many emotions raged through her at that moment for her to be coherent, or for her to even comprehend what it was exactly that she presently felt towards the blonde man that dwindled behind them.

Her Aunt's rule of analysis and deep, pensive consideration came back to her then, immersing her so far into herself that she no longer paid heed to Hurley's words of concern.

-oOo-  
Sawyer watched her go from where he knelt. Watched Hurley pat her consolingly on the back before shooting a final glare back his way and Sawyer resisted the urge to smile and wave sarcastically or offer him and ersatz salute.

He hadn't told her. He hadn't had much of a chance to let her in on his little secret. The real reason that he had remained tight lipped when Locke had refused Ana's presence upon the search and rescue party.

He didn't even want to admit it to himself really. Not just yet anyhow. He wasn't quite ready for what such feelings within him meant, or how they would effect him.

He had previously always only ever looked out for himself. Saved his own hide. All for one, and none for all. He had never had any reason to act other wise. The world hadn't treated him fairly. People had either pitied him or hated him until she had come along and she had felt neither emotion towards him…until he had screwed it up. Quite possibly she now despised him.

But to put it bluntly, he had been afraid. For the first time since his Momma had died. Since his Daddy had gone mad. Since he had murdered an innocent man in cold blood. He felt fear prickling the skin, making the hairs on the back of his neck bristle as it seeded itself deep in his chest, clawing at him more fiercely with every step she took away from their shelter.

He hadn't wanted her to go. Not because he had wanted to try it on with Kate again, as Ana had believed and accused. Not even because he hadn't wanted her there. He felt safer with her at his side than with anyone else he had met, let alone on the island post crash. He didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't want to put her in danger. He didn't want to run the risk of having her die on him now that he had suddenly begun to feel something that he had never thought he would feel again…Hope.

-oOo-


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3.**

She wasn't there.

His eyes searched the small crowd that had gathered to send them off, to wish them luck and speed them on their way. His gaze scored across them, looking desperately over heads and around shoulders, trying to seek her familiar form out. But it was a fruitless task no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't find her if she wasn't there to find in the first place.

Countless slaps rained down onto his back. A multitude of hands clasped his in brisk, firm shakes and suddenly and inexplicably, once more he was back in everyone's favour. No longer the man that they had scowled at and talked about behind raised hands as they had done the prior evening. Even Charlie beamed and talked him up a storm of good luck. Oh how fickle people were. It made him smirk to himself until his first train of thought returned to haunt him and his amusement died upon his lips.

She wasn't there.

They'd not had a true fight since they had embarked upon their 'dangerous liaison'. They had not had more than teasing arguments or fights that ended up in an activity that was a far more enjoyably pastime than even baiting her had become and they had been in each other's company every hour of every day and night for that past few weeks, since they had upped sticks and 'moved-in' together. He was actually surprised that they hadn't argued properly before now. Actually he was shocked, especially when he had discovered that Ana had been due 'on the rag' five days into their new living arrangements, but she'd not even mentioned it, let alone complained about it as most of the previous women he'd had a relationship with had. She'd not even raised her voice once or broke into a furious and inexplicable rage. That day, Sawyer had thanked his lucky stars, thanked God that he'd found a woman that wouldn't be a nightmare to live with during her 'time of the month'.

But the inevitable had occurred. He knew that they had been bound to piss one another off at some point in their tumultuous coupling and so it had come about. The first true fight.

Perhaps he had been overly hopeful to think that she would put aside their current differences and turn up to say 'goodbye', after his actions and provocation. Perhaps he had been naïve to think that his hope of smoothing things out before he disappeared into the 'Jungle of Mystery', had counted for anything. Would she still be so furious towards him when he returned? If he returned? Would she care if he didn't?

The second that his thoughts turned down that path, he knew that he was being ridiculous. He was thinking irrationally, shocked into doing so by her absence for the entirety of the night before. He forced himself to take a deeper breath to steady himself, his palpitating heartbeat, and replaced his cocky smirk, fixed upon his lips.

They were linked together now, whether either of them liked it or not. They were connected by their shared past and their desire to forget it, put it behind them and strive for something better. For something that so many wasted years of anguish made them deserving of.

Of course she would care if he never returned! She may be furious with him at that particular moment, furious enough to leave their conflict unresolved, to not bid him 'farewell' before he left, but she was by no means immune to her relatively newly discovered feelings for him. She would care. She did. Or so he kept telling himself, fighting the doubt buzzing at the back of his mind.

"Alright." Locke's deceptively calm and light voice called out from where the older man stood, huddled together with Kate and Sayid, like three witches over their cauldron, considering Rousseau's maps. "We better get started if we want to make it up those mountains before nightfall." he waved his hand, callused, work and weather worn, in the vague direction of their first destination and the other members of the group shouldered their packs and set about saying their final 'goodbyes'.

Sawyer continued to watch from the outskirts, alternating his gaze between the different interactions taking place. From the tearful and tender between Shannon and Sayid that made him want to hurl up what small amount of food he had actually eaten that morning, to the equally nauseating stiff and self-conscious kiss exchanged between Kate and the good doctor. Even Michael got himself a smile, a warm embrace and a peck on the cheek from Libby no less. Sawyer raised his eyebrows at that little development which seemed to have sprung up during the night as swiftly as his own relationship had deteriorated. Perhaps there was something to that crazy mantra about pleasure and pain needing to be equalled out, but again he forced his mind free from such worries and returned his gaze to scouring the gathering once more.

He was apparently the outcast again, though not, this time, because of their irritation towards him. Even Locke and Eko had someone to wish them well on their journey, hoping that they would return unscathed. A disgruntled looking Charlie, quite literally was left holding the baby, while Claire offered both men, though Locke more so that the Nigerian man, cheerful words and a smile that would dazzle any man.

And he was the abnormality. The loner stood, hands thrust deep in his pockets to keep him from chewing anxiously upon his thumbnail, a habit he'd picked up from Ana it seemed over the past days they had shared, as he waited for his companions to be ready. He had never been a patient man.

"Good luck, dude." Hurley's voice was more cheerful than it had been last time they had exchanged words and Sawyer turned to glance up at him from the corner of his blue eyes.

"Yeah? What d'you care?" he snorted in an unconvinced response and Hurley raised his large hands in surrender, in a placating gesture as his eyebrows quirked.

"Just sayin', dude." he countered, tone still deceptively light. This Hurley, stood beside him as he gazed down onto the other survivors milling around together was a different man, a complete contrast to the Hurley of the previous night. His voice no longer warning, not harsh and concerned like it had been, but something did lie heavy between them as they stood. Something made the air about them thick with tension and Sawyer doubted that it was the larger man's fear for his well-being and safe return. "So…You, like…nervous or somethin'?"

Sawyer replied with a simple shrug of his shoulders, a gesture that no longer caused him such terrible pain, and remained silent, waiting to see what it was exactly that Hurley had come to say to him. It was about Ana. That much he was certain of. He could tell from the way that Hurley shuffled his feet nervously, from the weight of the larger man's stare upon him from time to time as the seconds trickled by into minutes.

"While you're out there, dude…just…don't get yourself maimed or killed or something stupid like that." he grunted finally, breaking the prickling silence that lay around them, drawing Sawyer's gaze towards him fully, curiosity and a slight puzzlement quirking his eyebrows up.

"Aw, I didn't know you cared. There somethin' you ain't tellin' me, Jabba?" he allowed himself a chuckle, though it held little true joviality, shaking his head and removing his hands from his pockets so he could fold his arms across his chest defensively. Hurley ignored his newest, and possibly most insulting epithet yet received from the Southerner and shrugged as Sawyer had a moment prior. His dark eyes squinted against the bright sunlight but also the intruding stare now focused entirely upon him.

"Last night, Ana told me that you better come back alive and in one piece, otherwise she'd kill you herself." a barely suppressed smirk flickered across Hurley's lips as he purposely kept his gaze away from the man beside him and Sawyer could do little more to respond to that revelation than chuckle in relief.

"She said that, huh?" he queried with feigned mild interest and Hurley hummed his affirmation.

While things weren't right between him and Ana-Lucia at present, Hurley's words offered him some comfort at least. Comfort that he could have used while attempting to get some sleep ready for their hike through the jungle. But Sawyer was merely please that Hurley's words hinted that while Ana was very, very pissed off with him, she didn't truly hate him as he had feared and he resisted the urge to release his breath in a whoosh. To wipe nervous sweat from his brow. He contemplated dropping his bag then and there and going to find her to put things right, but before that thought could take a hold of him fully, Michael clapped a hand onto his shoulder, drawing his attention elsewhere.

"You all ready, man?" he queried with a wide, easy smile and a small pat upon his back and in return Sawyer feigned a grin in return. Though his dimples appeared, emblazoning his cheeks, it never reached as far as his sapphire eyes and the squeeze that the other man gave him confirmed that Michael was perceptive enough to sense Sawyer's current disappointment that Ana had not appeared.

"Lets hit the road, Papa Midnite." Sawyer cleared his voice of any previous emotions felt and shrugged away Michael's comfort before turning to Hurley once more and lowering his tone to a mere rumble. "Keep an eye on her, Super-Size Me. Make sure she's okay…happy." he lowered his voice, coughing when he had finished and rubbing at the back of his neck in discomfort. "Just…tell her I said 'goodbye', huh?"

Hurley looked down, deep into Sawyer's eyes and twisted his lips as if he were considering the other man's request seriously.

"Should be your job, dude…" he countered almost reproachfully but he nodded eventually as the other rescue team members began moving off and away into the jungle. "But, yeah. Sure. Whatever. See you 'round."

-oOo-  
She had intended to stay away, that morning. To stay apart from the sending off of the expedition. But as she had sat alone upon the eerily deserted beach, tent flaps and drying clothes flapping in the early morning breeze, she had felt the urge to be there, to witness the departure at least, overcome her current anger at Sawyer.

And so she stood watching him as he conversed stiffly with Hurley, no doubt talking about her and what looked like her continued absence. She could tell that Sawyer was bother by it from the way that his gaze swept the crowd every few minutes, seconds even. He tried to search for her covertly, but the look on Hurley's face betrayed that Sawyer, the unfathomable, unreadable, questionable motives Sawyer, was loosing his secretive, enigmatic touch.

She would have smirked at his actions if she hadn't been overcome with emotions too numerous and conflicting to mention.

Yes, she was still angry at his treatment of her and his lack of defence for her. Yes, she felt guilty for not putting their differences aside before he left for God knew how long. Of course she was worried about him getting hurt or worse, killed. He'd been stabbed and shot and beaten up numerous times, by her included, and she wasn't sure how much more punishment his body would actually be able to take.

She couldn't bring herself to face him, however. She couldn't say 'goodbye'. That was the top and bottom of her predicament. Not that she didn't want to. Not that she was too furious to step out and say it. She could not let it slip past her lips. She wouldn't. She'd bite her tongue clean off before she let that word pass from her throat to Sawyer's ears.

Every time she had told someone 'goodbye'…they had never returned to her.

_-Flashback-_

"No!"

She screamed. She sobbed. She begged.

Her Mama stood in the open kitchen doorway, arms wrapped tightly about herself for support, folded in upon herself as tears welled in her dark eyes.

"No! No! Papi! You can't go! Don't go! Don't go!"

Ana-Lucia's voice was hoarse. Her throat prickled and scratched worse than the time she had caught tonsillitis and been ill all last Christmas. But she didn't care. She fisted her tiny, white-knuckled hands into the dark, pinstripe suit material of her father's trouser leg, tugging as hard as she could. With all of her sever year old might.

"No!"

Her sisters stood beside their Mama silently. Older than Ana, they understood where she did not. They scowled up at the man that they had called 'Papi', his black hair slicked back into a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck, around which was draped a thick gold chain. His moustache and beard neatly trimmed. His suit, no doubt bought by the money from his new 'girlfriend', immaculately pressed…all save for the creases that little Ana-Lucia's fists were creating.

"I'll be a good girl, Papi! I won't be naughty ever again!" she gasped through her hysterical crying. "I'll do real good in school! I won't fight no more! I promise, Papi!"

Roberto Cortez stopped in his escape from the house when she wrapped her thin arms about his leg and physically prevented him, halted him in his steps and made him look down at her, dark eye tinged with impatience.

"Aneila!" he called to her Mama, voice deeper than Ana remembered, with a strange accent he had never used before. But her Mama shook her head, and disappeared into the kitchen, slipping away from the three of her daughters who stood beside her unmoving and Ana's Tia Lila who glowered down at her soon to be ex-brother-in-law.

"No, Roberto. You're the one breaking that little girl's heart. Your daughter's heart. You can deal with her. You can tell her why you're leaving. It's your problem of your own making. You deal with it!" Tia Lila's voice was hard and cold and her eyes narrowed at her Papi's tight, clenched face.

"Shut up, Lila. For Christ's sakes!" he snarled reaching down.

The words made Ana cry harder. A salty wet patch of emotion soaking into the leg of his trousers where she clung, burying her face but she felt hands close firmly around her wrists like her sister, Maria's toy handcuffs when she fastened them too tightly. She felt those hands force her away from where she gripped so forcefully, though not forcefully enough.

"No! No, no, no, no! NO!" she screeched at that top of her lungs as he lifted her up, hands underneath her armpits, holding her kicking and screaming form at arms length.

"Ana." he said firmly.

"No!" she was hysterical. She couldn't breathe. She was beginning to choke and retch with the sheer force of her tantrum.

"Ana!" he tried again, louder, but she simply shook her ebony ringlet covered head and scrunched her eyes up so tightly that they hurt and stung more so.

"NO!" she kicked her legs at him that time, wriggling harder in his grasp so that he almost dropped her.

"Ana-Lucia Cortez!" his voice boomed out through the hallway, making her sisters gasp and jump with fright. His accent had returned to normal then. It regained it's Mexican twang.

And she fell silent save for the gasps of breath and hiccoughing sobs.

"You will stop this noise." he stated, repeating it again when she opened her mouth to protest or offer a smart retort until she nodded in accordance. "And you will be a good girl and go to your Mama. Always be a good girl for her, yes?"

Ana nodded again, watching his face, the face of the man that she loved dearly, had looked up to since she could remember, through tear swollen, red eyes.

"And now you will tell me 'goodbye'. Yes?"

Ana refused to respond or acknowledge that she had heard him speak that final time.

"Ana?"

She turned her face away and wriggled to be put down onto her own feet once more.

"Ana-Lucia!" he shook her slightly, stopping her struggling and making her look up into his face again. One final time as he placed her on her feet and knelt before her.

"Goodbye." she mumbled, through tears and choked gulps of air into her oxygen starved lungs. And he smiled at her then. Her Papi smiled at her one last time as he patted her on her curly head.

"Good girl." he responded, straightening and brushing the creases from his suit's trouser leg. "Goodbye, Ana-Lucia. Now go to your Mama."

-End Flashback-

-oOo- 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.**

"Hey, Ana." Claire's sunny smile cut through the dullness pervading her suddenly so empty shelter. "Can I sit with you in here for a bit?"

Ana glanced up at the young mother and forced a smile in response, though the Australian blonde had already moved inside without invitation and was settling herself comfortably on the ground, infant son clutched to her chest.

"Sure." Ana replied, shoving Sawyer's clothes out of the way, that he had obviously emptied out of his backpack that morning and had left strewn across the sandy floor for her to happen upon. Typical guy.

She knew that she was fisting her hands into the garments a little tighter than necessary. That she was throwing his shirts and pants into the corner with a little more force than was needed, making thudding sounds against the bamboo wall opposite. She could even sense Claire's curious gaze, studying her actions intently, scrutinizing her like Libby usually did. Perhaps the young mother had taken it upon herself to come and sit with her just to see whether the gossip was true. Had Ana-Lucia and Sawyer been fighting? Had he left her? Had she ignored him, not even said goodbye?

"I'm hiding..." Claire spoke suddenly, as if she had guessed Ana's thoughts and breaking the silence. She always seemed to know. To understand the emotions that Ana tried to hide from the other survivors so badly. It was very swiftly becoming an unnervingly common occurrence, but Claire simply grinned girlishly over at her, hushing Aaron when he whimpered and continued speaking as if she had not noticed Ana's wary glance. "…From Charlie."

"You're hiding? From Charlie?" Ana repeated, quashing her misgivings and replacing them with mild interest.

Claire was possibly the only other woman who she was on speaking terms with, besides Libby of course, though Ana found the blonde therapist's constant psychoanalysis somewhat grating. Claire's cheery nature, however, was a welcome change, even if she was beginning to show the traits of a psychologist ingrained into her by so much time spent in Libby's company.

"Yeah…" Claire replied, almost sheepishly, as if guilt made it hard for her to swallow suddenly or she was having second thoughts about ditching the Brit. "Charlie's nice, and all, but he kinda likes to take over, if you know what I mean…with Aaron."

The bluntness of her admission and the tiredness that all of a sudden dimmed her usually luminous eyes told Ana that the petite young woman had come not to satisfy the wagging tongues of the masses with whatever scandal she gleaned during her stay in the shelter, or to intrude upon her privacy. No. She had come for someone to talk to about her own problems. For some sort of support and though Ana-Lucia was puzzled as to why Claire had chosen her to talk to over the likes of Shannon and Sun and Libby, she was appreciative for the distraction from her own confusing predicament. Her own life that, at present, was left with a great emptiness in it.

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" Ana queried, her voice smooth and deep as she rested her folded arms upon drawn up knees, and Claire nodded her head. Shushing the baby in the crook of her arms when he continued to fuss.

"Sure. Tons of times. He just never gets the hint." she was fighting to keep frustration from her usually bright voice, that much Ana could tell from the way her lips tightened into a thin, compressed line. It was obviously bothering her, enough to make her so unlike her normal, bubbly self. Enough to cause her to seek out advice from a woman that she had known for less than a few weeks. A woman who had shot and almost killed one of her other companions.

"Shannon thinks that I should just tell him to go away. That I don't want him helping out anymore, but I don't want to hurt his feelings. He's one of the few friends I've got here." Claire sighed, partly from her situation and partially due to Aaron's continuing wails.

"If he's bothering you, just tell him to leave off and if he's any sort of true friend then he'll do it." Ana responded with a shrug. "If not, you're better off without him."

Claire's blue eyes searched across Ana's face intently, eyebrows quirked in concern.

"You really think?" she murmured and Ana nodded, offering her what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "I guess he just feels responsible for me and Aaron. He thinks it was his fault just because he was there when we got taken."

Taken. Taken. The word triggered alarm bells in Ana's mind and she turned to Claire abruptly.

"Taken?"

"By this guy called Ethan." Claire illuminated and her effervescent gaze clouded once more. "He wasn't on the plane. No one knows where he came from, but he must've been here on the island all along." a shudder made the small woman's form shake with distaste and repressed emotions and as if he could sense his mother's distress, Aaron's cries became louder. More frantic, even as she rocked him back and forth. "I don't remember what happened to me, or how I escaped…but I do remember him…Ethan…"

She had been taken and yet she had survived to be telling the tale right now? Was it possible that more people could have survived them then? The Other's?

"How come you don't remember?" Ana queried, attempting to sound merely conversational when in fact she wanted to demand that the blonde tell her everything, every detail. That was the 'cop' still in her blood.

Claire shrugged as much as she was able to with Aaron screaming and flailing his small fists at her and Ana noted the desperate look flit through her blue eyes. Charlie had obviously been so intent on trying to help out with the new born baby, so desperate to show that he was useful and to pay penance for the situation that he perceived as his fault, that Claire had not been given the chance yet to come to terms with motherhood fully. She was floundering, where other young mothers back in civilization would have learnt enough by then to be enjoying their baby. Not that her struggle made her any less of a good mother. On the contrary, it was clear to see the love that shone in Claire's eyes every time that she beheld the little life, that she had created, in her arms and it caused emotion's so strong and so long buried within Ana-Lucia to rise up and choke her. Made her feel as if her heart had fallen down into her stomach, past her feet, through the ground and left her with a feeling of weightlessness. It made her long once more for the future that had been stolen from her by one single man.

The simple sound, even the sight of a crying baby lodged the bitter lump harder into Ana's throat as she fought against it desperately, trying to quash it. She was barely succeeding at keeping the remembrance of her father at bay, with the absence of Sawyer on top of that. It was not likely to be long before her fervent façade crumbled beneath the added strain if she allowed more of her past to come crashing back to her at that moment.

"He sounds like he's tired." Ana offered, coughing the sudden resurgence of painful memories away and trying to cover it from Claire's ever perceptive watch. Luckily, it seemed, she was too busy trying to sooth her son to acknowledge Ana's hastily brushed away grief.

"Yeah, he gets cranky when he's overly sleepy. It's just too hot out there for him to sleep properly." Claire managed to respond over the increasing noise and her own anxiousness. Her head whipped around the shelter, sending sun-bleached locks shimmering about her shoulders as she searched for something. "Erm…Could you hold him? Just for a sec while I run and get his bag? I think he needs a nappy-change and if Charlie sees me with him crying, he'll throw a proper fit and I probably won't get him back until this afternoon." she faced Ana with a pleading smile, even as Ana opened her mouth to respond that she didn't think it was such a good idea. Even as she felt the strange tingle of emotion begin again, starting in her fingertips and working it's way back up her arms until it buzzed through her entire body and made her feel slightly light headed. "I'm supposed to be hiding from him remember?"

"I'm not so sure if I'm the right person to-" she began, but Claire was already passing the bundle of screaming child across the small distance between them, cupping his soft, downy head with one hand while supporting the rest of his squirming body with her other arm.

"Just watch his head and you'll be fine. Rock him a bit and he might calm down. He just likes to show-off his 'wind-pipes' for new people." Claire slipped her hands from between Ana's careful, cradling arms and Aaron's wriggling form before sitting back on her heels and watching the other woman adjust to having a baby in her hold. "I'll be two shakes of a lambs tail!" she reassured, running her hand one last time over an angry, flushed red cheek of her baby before grinning at Ana as she shuffled back out of the shelter's entrance, disappearing into the sun. "Thanks so much!"

"No problem…" Ana called after her with a growl of sarcasm, turning her eyes down to the tiny, scrunched up face, all gums and mouth and pink skin.

He was a comforting warmth, embraced close to her for fear that she may drop him if he continued to squirm and shriek. His meagre weight, pressing down onto her chest where she cradled him in the crook of her arms. It took her breath away, snatched it from her throat and left her sitting, mouth agape, simply staring at him in the throws of his tantrum.

Tiny, shaking fingers curled and uncurled as he struck out at her, desperate for something to fist his little hands into. Something to reassure him and make him feel safe. His mouth a small, quivering 'oh' shape, tiny pink tongue curled around the sound of the deafening cries that wailed forth from him like a siren.

Ana swallowed hard, once more pushing memories and 'what if's' as far from her mind as she could. They were damaging thoughts to have and for too long in her previous life she had devoted her time and energy to wondering things that only served to keep her there, in the bowels of hurt and pain and misery.

"Hey." her voice sounded strange coming from her own throat as she soothed the child in her embrace. It sounded softer than she had allowed it to in many a year, preferring to hide that side of her, protect it from further injury, by raising a stoic front. A smokescreen of toughness and attitude that stopped anyone getting past her defences and breaking her down once more. Once bitten, Ana-Lucia was most definitely twice shy.

But then along had come Sawyer, all bravado and sarcasm and southern charm. A swagger in his stride and a smirk on his face. And all of her plans had gone to hell, just because of one single letter, addressed to one single man. It was hard to keep out the man that had suffered the same ruined childhood that she had. It was hard to fight the connection felt from a common hatred and shared goal. It was hard to turn away a kindred spirit.

There was, however, still a lot that Sawyer did not yet know about her and she would have preferred to keep it that way. She had less chance of being hurt again, the less he knew…

_-Flashback-_

She felt his hand press palm down, flat against the small of her back, seeking a way beneath the clinging material of her vest top. Rough fingertips met her skin there, when he succeeded in his small mission, making electricity jolt up her spine from where they touched.

Lips pressed in open-mouthed kisses against her throat, distracting her from the fact that they were out in the open, still in front of their newly built shelter. Still in view of the other survivors gathered about the large blazing fire somewhere down the beach.

"Ain't no time like the present." he had retorted to her sly question of whether or not he intended to finish what he had started that morning, and he had done so with pretended nonchalance. His eyes, though, had told her that he was not nearly as blasé about what was going to occur between them as he pretended to be and that made her grin all the wider, standing abruptly and showering him with a drift of sand.

"Shut up!" she had countered with a mock-growl as he brushed grit from his hair and squinted up at her. A grin of realisation flickered across his lips at the words that he knew she was going to say next. That he could tell that she was going to say, merely from the look in her dark eyes. "When I tell you to do something, you do it…I say move, you move…I say stop, you stop. I say get your damn ass in that shelter, you say?" she raised her eyebrows, prompting him for a response and Sawyer had never moved so fast in the entire time that she had known him.

"Yes, _**Ma'am**_!"

That had been the beginning. There had been no stopping after that remark, even if they had wanted to.

His fingers were currently smoothing across the skin showing between where her shirt ended and the top of her denim shorts began. Barely grazing the flesh that was exposed there as they moved in tandem towards the cover and privacy of their tent. Her taking blind steps backwards, him pressing forwards.

His chest was hot against hers despite the fact there were clothes in the way, separating them. Millimetres of worn, weather and work stained cotton. That was it. All that was keeping them apart and it seemed that Sawyer was intent on rectifying that terrible injustice tugging her top up and over her head.

Blue tarps swished above as they stumbled their way inside and he deposited the garment with a toss over his shoulder.

"You sure 'bout this, Chica?" he pulled away long enough to breathe and she could feel the smile curling his lips upwards, a mere hair's-breadth from her own.

"Are _**you?**_" she retorted, answering his question with one of her own and Sawyer laughed, deep in his throat, the vibrations rumbling through his chest until she silenced him, leaning up to catch his mouth with hers.

Arms curled about his neck, drawing him down and closer towards her until they could no longer stand hunched over beneath the low plastic ceiling and continue their exploration.

Sawyer pulled away enough to lock his gaze together with hers, changed from sapphire to dark, night blue with desire. A smirk somehow still managed to curl at the corner of his lips even if his breathing was harder than usual, even if he did have to pause his speech to keep it steady.

"Hold that…thought, Hot-lips."

And Ana rolled her eyes making herself comfortable upon their neatly laid out blankets as he moved to kneel before one of his many suitcases.

"Hurry up!" she growled in impatience, lying back so that she stared up at their makeshift ceiling as she listened to him rummaging through his scavenged belongings. "What are you doing?"

She heard him chuckle to himself almost and raised her head to glance over at him.

"Just takin' the necessary _**precautions**_, Sugar." he replied, concentration filling his voice and making his tone deepen to a low thrum in the air. "Although, dunno what we're gonna do when we run out..."

He finished his hunting and tossed a box towards her, putting her reflexes to the test and she just managed to catch it, wrapping her palm about it and plucking it from it's flight path through the air and twisting the blue box to read the label.

Condoms.

Ana felt her mouth run dry as Sawyer continued to mutter about how many were left and wondering aloud what they would do when they ran out. Apparently he wasn't up for 'no vow of chastity' but neither did he want to be the first new daddy on the island.

"I ain't what you'd call 'daddy-material', seeing as I never really had one myself to learn from." he laughed but Ana cut him off, tossing the box back into his waiting hands.

"Don't worry about it." she stated flippantly, pulling herself to sit upright as he settled beside her, resting on one elbow and turning to face her. She sensed his curious stare scoring into the side of her face as she busied herself with removing her boots, slowly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked quietly, all joking and flirtation aside but Ana shrugged his question away, tugging her hair from where she had gathered it into a band at the nape of her neck.

Perhaps he knew that she was hiding something from him. That there was something that she was not quite comfortable with revealing to him just yet, but he allowed it to drop for the moment. He lt it go, relinquishing his scrutiny of her when she told him once more not to concern himself and shifted over so that she straddled his waist, grin turning wicked once more.

"Now..." she mused, voice low and alluring. "Where **were** we?" 

-End Flashback-

"Hey, hey." she spoke again, clearing her mind of such thoughts and focusing solely upon the howling infant. "No grita el pequeño. Está bien. Su Mama estará detrás muy pronto. Tanto divulgue de un pequeño muchacho tan dulce."

The instant that the Spanish slipped from her lips, Aaron's noise eased, his tiny chin trembling as he looked up at her with wide eyes, a darker blue than his mother's, though no less stunning and Ana offered him her forefinger to keep his hands from grasping at the air desperately.

"Allí. Ése es más como él." she smiled as his hands clasped fiercely about her finger, so large in comparison to his tiny, perfectly formed digits. "So strong for such a little guy, huh?"

A chuckle from the entrance of the shelter drew Ana's smiling gaze from Aaron's suddenly contented face, eyes drooping as sleep began to wash over him and Claire grinned, bending down to watch the other woman caring for her son.

"Hey, you're a natural." she whispered, smile bright as she carefully and quietly pushed her bag, filled with the babies necessities, into the tent. "Just like Sawy-" Claire's eye widened in shock at what she had almost let slip from her mouth and she flushed furiously, settling on her knees further inside. "Oh, God, Ana. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...you know, bring him up after what happened last-"

"Forget it." Ana responded swiftly, cutting her off though doing so with a reassuring smile, even if it was slightly strained at the almost mention of the southerner's name. "So...have you decided what you're going to do about Kid Rock yet?" she changed the subject almost a swiftly as she had cut Claire off to begin with. She'd become an expert at subject shifts in awkward situations. A dab hand at it. A real pro.

"S'cuse me...who?"

She smirked, moving slowly and carefully to place the now sleeping Aaron back into the arms of his mother.

"Charlie."

-oOo- 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5.**

He studied his feet as he walked, dodging undergrowth and rocks and tree roots alike, protruding from the floor, intent on tripping him up and sending him sprawling. Head over heels.

The hike was a tough one, but he'd remembered that from his very first excursion away from the beach, on which he had shot and killed a polar bear of all things. He half expected another to come charging out from the long grass at any minute, attempting to exact revenge upon him for murdering it's mate or sibling or simply just it's fellow bear.

"Hey Sawyer?" her voice broke through and into his thoughts as she slowed her pace to match his, falling into step beside him. "D'you remember that time you shot-"

"A polar bear?" he interrupted, flashing a sideways glance at the petite woman suddenly beside him.

He felt uncomfortable being so close to her after all he had shared with Ana, even if he was currently in her 'bad books'. The heat he felt radiated from her closeness, the way her shoulder knocked into his as they continued on their way, several steps behind the leaders of the group, it all somehow felt like he was betraying Ana's trust. He felt as if simply walking and talking with Kate, as he was, suddenly became the worst sin that he could ever commit. As if he was cheating upon the woman that he had left behind at the beach in some way and he widened the distance between them, drawing an uncomfortable glance from Kate's emerald eyes as she swallowed hard, searching for words to make things between them right again.

"I mean, s'not somethin' you forget easily, now is it, Freckles?" Sawyer continued suddenly, breaking the heavy silence with a sarcasm laced tone that was more biting than his usual joviality.

No longer did they banter back and forth, finding comfort in each other's company. No longer did they feel a connection, a bond of camaraderie. Two outlaws against the world. And it had all begun, their relationship had gone into decline, since Kate's spat with Ana-Lucia and Sawyer's discovery that Kate had, in actual fact, lied to him in order to put pains to his blossoming dalliance with the ferocious Hispanic woman.

Before he had left upon Michael's raft, before he had encountered Ana-Lucia Cortez, Kate had no doubt at all that Sawyer would have loved the thought of two women getting into a fight, even as remotely over him as theirs had been. The thought of her, especially, pulling such an underhanded and dirty trick to vie for his attention as she had, would have left him grinning his wide, dimpled smile from ear to ear. But something had happened to him. Something within him had changed all of that. Had made him furious about Kate's wronging of Ana and had severed any remote friendship that they had rekindled following his return.

Ana-Lucia Cortez, it seemed, had changed him. Even in the few weeks that they had known each other, she had been able to reach inside of him, despite all of her bravado and tough exterior and harshness, and light a spark within him that had long been extinguished. One that Kate, herself, had never been aware of, let alone been able to relight like Ana had.

"You come to say sorry, Kate?" he spoke gruffly, mimicking words of her own from what seemed so long ago, drawing her green eyes up, away from where they watched her feet eating up the rising ground they were covering.

He never called her by her name. Never once had he done so before and though she remembered complaining to Sun and some of the others about his constant nicknames, the way he spoke her name then, the way it curled from his lips with ire, made her long for his dubious pet-names once more.

"Sorry doesn't suit me…" she replied, following his example and repeating words that he had once used, her voice almost as quiet as a whisper. Ana-Lucia had come looking for her those fourteen days ago. She had come looking for a fight and she had found one, and now Sawyer wanted her to apologise for it? "But, if it means anything, I am…" she paused once more, swallowing again at the lump of bitter pride that threatened to rise and compromise her apology. "…I am sorry."

Sawyer nodded his head slowly, as if considering the truthfulness behind her stilted words. He didn't do more than that. He didn't thank her, or tell her that she was forgiven, or even let her know whether he had accepted her remorse or not. He simply continued walking, blue eyes intent upon the backs of Locke and Sayid a hundred or so yards ahead of them.

"Ain't me that can forgive you, Freckles." He murmured finally, sensing her disappointment at finding neither closure, nor forgiveness. "You gotta speak to my Chica 'bout that one."

"Why her, Sawyer?" she breathed finally, unable to contain the question that she was aching to know the answer to and he turned to glance over at her, eyebrows raised perhaps thinking that she was asking why she had to apologise to Ana. Perhaps in disbelief of her brusqueness, her blunt query, or maybe in irritation, before he snorted and kicked at a rock in his path, sending it skittering ahead of them, over the brush and scrubs. "What is it about her?"

"What is it about her that got me all weak in the loins, right?" he demanded. "Sweetheart, are you intendin' on throwin' _all_ my own lines back at me? What, you can't think of none of your own?" his laugh, while less than amused, wasn't as cold or hard as his tone had been before and she felt relief course through her veins at that notion.

"No. What is it about her that makes you so…" she began speaking only to pause almost immediately, searching for the words to describe Sawyer's sudden transformation, but none came to her. She couldn't put into words how much he had changed nor how she felt knowing that her actions had perhaps driven him towards Ana-Lucia more swiftly. "You told me once that it was because she didn't pity you. She didn't judge you or walk on eggshells when she was around you…There's gotta be something more to it than that."

She knew that she sounded jealous, and if she was truthful with herself somewhere deep down inside her private self she still was, but Sawyer didn't mention it or make a joke out of it as she had feared he would. She had never mocked him about his feud with Jack concerning her and it seemed that, while there was certainly no longer any love lost between them at that moment in time, he had a certain respect for her and wanted to return her favour from their previous, reversed situation.

"I been at rock-bottom for a long time, Freckles. Long time before this craziness and the crash an' all." He paused to shoulder his pack a little higher into his back before turning to look her in the eyes fully for the first time since the events that had transpired two weeks previously. "She ain't changed me none, like you seem to think. I ain't no different from the man that sat down on that plane or the man that told everyone exactly who you were just to keep his spot on that raft." He shook his head slowly, kicking the rock that he had toed before, again. "She ain't done nothin' to make me a new man or some bullshit like that…but she makes me wanna be." Conviction, total belief in his words, what he was saying made his eyes shine fierce azure at her. Made Kate herself take a step away from the sheer force behind them and made her turn her head away, as if she should not have been witness to such ardent emotions that he obviously held for Ana-Lucia Cortez. "She makes me want to change just so's I can feel again. Whether that's me feelin' anger or regret or hope or-"

"Love?" she interrupted unexpectedly, matching bright jade eyes of her own to his gaze and slowly, warily, as if he was just coming into the realisation himself, he nodded.

"Somethin' like that…" he mumbled, his voice growling to make up for what he had just admitted to the slight brunette. "I just ain't been able to feel nothin' for a long time…"

"That's why you didn't want her to come." She murmured, realisation dawning upon her as his words swam about inside her head. "You don't want anything to happen to her, but I'm disposable, right?" she brushed curling brown locks from her face, peering across the distance between them once more as they walked in tandem and even thought Sawyer shrugged at her assumption, even though he nodded his head slightly and told her 'Yeah', what she had said about hit the nail on the head, she didn't feel the anger that she had expected to feel thundering through her like the hooves of a pounding racehorse. Instead, her mind wandered to Jack. To how he had begged her not to go on the rescue venture. To the feelings, as fervent as the look in Sawyer's eyes had been for Ana, that had traversed his face completely.

She opened her mouth, drawing breath to respond to him after an extended heartbeat, but before the words could form upon the tip of her tongue, before she could let them fall from her lips and inform Sawyer that she had found her closure after all, Locke's voice called down to them from where he and Sayid stood at the crest of the rise that they were scaling.

"Kate, could I get another tracker's opinion on this map?" he queried, eyebrows raised in expectation. Small, all-knowing smile curling his lips, and though Sawyer noted the torn look flash through Kate's eyes, her frustration at being disturbed when she had been so close to making things right by him, she nodded her acceptance at Locke's request and jogged forwards to where he and the Iraqi stood, the pieces of yellowing paper in question stretched between their hands like a miniature hammock.

-oOo- 


	6. Chapter 6

Finally I post the next chapter! Laptop isdead, hence the fewer posts, not even been picked up by the stupid courier but the less said about angry phonecalls to him, the better 'eh?

I hope you all had a super christmas, I did. Tons of books, tons of DVDs and music and such so the inspiration has been flowing and I managed to wrangle the computer off my sister for a couple of hours to get this next part up. (she says 'You're welcome' btw, for letting me steal it for a few.)

Ana and Jack have a little chat. Not much happens as I decided to cut this chapter short and keep the final bit (which has a little bit more action than the load of chinwagging that's been going on). The plot is about to thicken, so if you're still with me be prepared for stuff to really get going in the next few chapters.

Thank you all for your continuing, lovely reviews and comments and hopefully this chapter won't disappoint.

Thanks again for reading!

**Chapter 6.**

"Mind if I join you, ladies?"

His voice wasn't as deep as Sawyer's was, but the distinct maleness of it made the irrational hope that it somehow _was_ the Southerner come back from his foolish adventure, burn as bright within her as the fire that she shared with Claire did before her.

She looked up at his face, realising that it was Jack and quelling her foolish hope that it was Sawyer, scolding herself for it even, before looking away to the flames.

Her blonde Australian companion sucked her lower lip into her mouth, suppressing one of her brilliant smiles as her gaze flickered back and forth between Ana-Lucia and the doctor standing patient and enquiring upon the edge of their circle of light that served to keep back the growing darkness. They had conversed all day. Ana had allowed herself to get lost in the friendly chatter of the young mother and time had flown away causing her surprise when she glanced up and found it nearing night.

"Sure, pull up a sand dune." she murmured finally and his face broke into a smile that stimulated Claire's into a soft laugh of delight. He placed his medical bag down, a beaten leather hand luggage bag that had belonged to one of the less than fortunate passengers who hadn't survived the crash, before sinking to the sand opposite from the two women and the sleeping baby lying in a nest of blankets between them.

"So," he smiled again, passing the friendly gesture back and forth between them as he spoke. "I was in the neighbourhood, checking up on Shannon actually, and I thought I'd finish my rounds tonight and check up on Aaron and your nose." His finger made a sweeping arc upwards, starting from the sleeping boy and moving to indicate Ana's face, causing her to press at it with light fingertips self-consciously. A wide white strip of surgical tape still lay across the fracture that Kate had given her, but the swelling had disappeared, gone down a few days after the break itself had occurred and the bruising was all but gone, the faintest shadow of yellow and purple still haunting her bronze, otherwise flawless skin.

"_Sure_ you did." Ana's eyes narrowed in good-humoured sarcasm, a smirk curling one corner of her slightly open mouth. "Aaron's fine and my nose is, what did you say? _'Healing up nicely'_, last time I came to see you about it." She raised her chin, jerking it at him in gentle challenge and causing Claire to giggle again quietly at the exchange. "You just came to check up on us, right? To keep us out of trouble."

Jack released his embarrassed amusement in small, soundless snorts of air down his nose, smile turned to the sandy ground to keep the flush upon his cheeks, at being so easily read, hidden.

"Alright," he allowed himself to chuckle lightly, hand palms coated in a golden layer of sand as he raised them in self-defence. "I want to make sure that _everyone_ is okay after today."

_'That you are okay,'_ his eyes told her as they returned to her face, taking Claire in swiftly beforehand and he clapped his palms together, relieving them of their gritty veneer.

It was Ana's turn to feel heat, and not that from the campfire, high upon her cheeks because of his words.

"I'm fine." She replied, turning her gaze to her blonde companion in a desperate attempt at covering over her words she had realised how she had responded. "What about you, Mama Mia?"

Claire rolled her vivid blue eyes in a mute gesture of annoyance at Ana's nickname for her, though her teeth shone out bright in a wide grin, juxtaposed with her ire and betraying that it was mostly feigned.

"You really have been spending too much time around Sawyer," she laughed, lowering her voice conspiratorially as she continued, leaning in closer to Ana. "I think he's…_rubbing off _on you!"

Jack's cough served to bring his discomfort at the conversation topic to Ana's attention even if Claire remained oblivious to it entirely.

"I'm good and Aaron is fine. Sleeping actually. For the first time in _days_!" the Australian mother paused to gaze down lovingly at her son before resuming her speech and smiling back up at her companions. "I think he likes Ana's voice. You know, like he did with Sawyer's." she chuckled again, quietly, to herself almost. "Although I have to say, Ana's _much _more fun for me to talk with than Sawyer was!"

Jack's reaction to the second mention of the absentee Southerner in question was interrupted by a sudden harsh, staged whisper that did little to preserve the quiet and footsteps from behind them drawing their stares apart and over in the direction of the other beach dwellings.

"Claire! Shouldn't the baby be asleep?" Charlie's hissing whisper demanded as he stopped before them, scuffing sand as he drew to a halt. His stubbled jaw clenched tight and dark blue eyes hard with either concern or exasperation.

"He _is_ asleep." Claire retorted, a cold tone that Ana did not recognise entering her voice and turning her smile into a blank, glazed over look.

"Oh, right. Well, I _mean _in his _cot_." Charlie's eye shifted back and forth nervously taking in the forms of Ana-Lucia and Jack staring back at him as he spoke, standing upon the edge of light that the fire cast out like a protective bubble. "D'you want me to take him back? It's fine if you want some time to yourself." His blue eyes flickered over Ana once more and warily, obviously he was one of the survivors who had deemed her likely to try and shoot someone whenever she had the chance. "Y'know, of you want to talk with…" Swallow. Hard. "…Ana some more."

Claire sought out the dark eyed gaze of her hostess and rolled her eyes before slowly climbing to her feet and scooping Aaron's sleeping form up gently.

"No, that's all right, Charlie. I'm quite capable of looking after _my_ baby _my_self." She replied finally, biding Ana and Jack 'goodnight' with a weary nod before taking off at a swift march across the sand to the one place that Charlie didn't dare follow her uninvited…inside her shelter. Though her mood didn't stop him from hovering outside the premises like a fly over a rubbish bin.

Ana-Lucia watched them go, shaking her head and giving an incredulous snort that wrested the attention of the doctor sat opposite her, from the squabbling Charlie and Claire.

"You think they're funny?" Jack hazarded a guess, a reason for her near silent laughter and Ana's gaze flickered back to him as she smiled, with another half snort, and shook her head.

"I think it's sad, really." She responded, hand finding it's way blindly to gripping onto the thin, long branch that she had previously been using to stoke the fire with and resumed the task once more. "Charlie wants to help her to get rid of his demons and Claire doesn't want him to help to get rid of her own." She turned her eyes back towards their subject of conversation briefly with another sorrowful shake of her head. "They're just winding each other up at the moment."

"It works for you and Sawyer." Jack shot at her, perhaps before he could stop himself or thought better of the comment for he snapped his mouth shut firmly after the last word had left his lips and regarded her with as much surprise as if she had posed such a criticism to him.

She considered him carefully for a long, extended heartbeat, loathed to discuss her relationship with Sawyer with Jack of all people. She knew which route the conversation was liable to take, especially considering Jack's reputation as the concerned leader, wanting to make certain that everyone was okay. And suddenly she knew exactly why he had decided to 'finish his rounds' that evening. Not to check up on Claire or Aaron or even her nose-break. He had come to find out how she was coping in the aftermath of Sawyer.

"It _does_ work for us," she responded to his observation, calmly and charily, shifting slightly to throw another log onto the blaze to keep the flames burning high and hot and maintain the barrier between them. It wasn't that she distrusted Jack. Of course he was merely being compassionate, perhaps thinking that she needed someone to talk to about events. And he had Kate now, with whom he seemed happy in the company of. And she herself had chosen Sawyer over the good doctor when Jack had apparently developed an interest in her. None of that stopped her from acknowledging the reasons why she had liked him to begin with. Why she had spoken to him in the airport bar.

He was a looker. Maybe not as roguish as Sawyer, and perhaps lacking that rugged, rough an' ready charm that Ana covertly lusted after in the Southerner. But Jack was handsome. Traditionally so. Whereas Sawyer oozed sex-appeal, Jack subconsciously boasted charisma. Smoothness over a granite hardness in opposition to Sawyer's velvet over sharpness.

What was she _doing_ comparing them? She had made her decision _weeks_ ago, perhaps even that first day that Sawyer had beckoned her into his tent with a _'Hey Girl-Fight'_ and a knowing smirk that had drawn her in despite her anger. Ensnared her. _Captured_ her. His entire approach to her had captured her. Maybe she had known from the beginning, maybe she had allowed herself to be captivated from their first ever true battle of the wills. Had the pain lanced words telling her that he would kill her if she ever hit him again, stirred something deep inside her that she had never thought she would feel again? Was that the reason that she had replied to him, not with fists and tongue blazing, but with a flirtatious smirk that she had often puzzled over herself?

Ana shook her head, breaking herself out of her thoughts of Sawyer and their wild, curious courtship…if it could be called that. She was still angry with him for leaving her behind. Still furious that he had supported Kate over her…or at least she was supposed to be. With every passing moment that she mulled over past goings-on, she felt the white-hot fury within her dwindling into concern.

"But Sawyer and I…We have..._ways_ of relieving the tension. We work well together when we want the same thing." She continued her stunted reply to Jack's prying observation and at the mention of her more intimate dealings with Sawyer, the doctor simultaneously allowed a flush to break out across his cheeks and his eyes to darken.

"Not judging from your display at the caves yesterday. Or from what Hurley tells me of your little scuffle last night." Jack came back, a little more harshly than he had intended, surprising himself as well as well as Ana who ground her back teeth together in mounting irritation until his features softened. Regret for his outburst or simply pity for her situation. Not two full weeks into a proper relationship and already they were separated and having more than teething problems.

"Everyone has their moments, Jack." She responded tiredly, rubbing at her forehead with her free hand. "We just had ours a little sooner than the norm."

He nodded in acceptance of her words, of her loyalty to Sawyer despite what had happened.

"If you ever need to talk to anyone, you know I'm-"

"I won't." she responded like lightening, her pride more than anything bristling at his half made offer.

Standing from his seat in the cooling sand, he paused to brush himself free from it's clinging grains.

"Your nose is fine," he murmured, rubbing at the corner of his eye with his index finger, suddenly distancing himself from her. Respecting her privacy that she had made clear she wanted. "I'll need you to take a shift at the hatch now that…they've gone. Either tonight or tomorrow. Whichever suits. I think Libby is finishing up there in about a half hour…"

Ana nodded to him in response.

"I'll go now," she replied, nodding once more to fill the slightly awkward pause between them. She felt the need to see the face of the blonde psychologist for some reason, though they had never been particularly friendly. She just needed to feel reassured by the therapeutic words of someone older and wiser that herself. Someone that was not Jack, Sawyer's rival in almost every aspect. But also, she didn't feel that she could sleep. Not in _their_ shelter while _he_ was absent, roaming the paths of the jungle.

"If you need _anything_," Jack began, his voice still soft with regret that she had chosen not to speak with him and get the things that weighed her down off her chest. "Or if you...change your mind, you know where I am." And he began his slow, striding walk across the sand towards the trees, not looking back. Not daring to after Ana had made her reticence clear. He was backing off from their curious friendship, that could have possibly gone on to be more than friendship if she permitted it. And she was glad for it. She had made the decision to keep him at arm's length, not only out of respect for Sawyer, though she reminded herself that she didn't owe Sawyer anything really (they probably weren't even going to last. Part time lovers at best) but because she didn't trust herself. Jack seemed to have the innate ability to pry truths out from her that she had kept so deeply hidden that she barely realised them herself. At least with Libby she could hold her tongue. Jack made her want to spill all of her secrets, old and new, and that she could not allow until she had puzzled over them fully and locked them away safely. She didn't trust herself not to admit something to the tall, pensive doctor that she wasn't quite sure that she wanted to admit that she felt for Sawyer just yet.

-oOo- 


	7. Chapter 7

Well, i've got another chapter for you. As always I really do appreciate you reading this, I just don't have the time that I'd like to, to sit down and thank you at the moment. I wish I did but work is so mad and I'm trying desperately to get my laptop fixed so that I don't have to borrow my sisters pc anymore. I just don't feel very comfortable writing on her comp.

Anywho, hope that this chapter is as enjoyed as the others and I still don't own anything Lost related...unfortunately.

**Chapter 7. **

Locke's suggestion that they stop for the night and make camp had taken them all unawares. Being the all-knowing jungle man that he was, Sawyer had expected him to have them all marching single file through the jungle, barking orders like a Sergeant Major, until they all passed out from exhaustion. Instead, they had all been shocked when a little before sunset the enigmatic, bald man had stopped before them in the shadow of a cliff only perhaps another half hour, forty minutes worth of climbing from the small mountain's summit.

"I think we should rest up fully for tomorrow," he had announced with his calmly authoritative tone that caused even Sayid's eyebrows to shoot up his forehead in surprise. "Who knows what's waiting for us around the next bend, hmmm?"

Michael had been none too happy with the early break and had removed himself, in a flurry of barely conceal emotion, to refill their water bottles from a stream that they had passed a little further down, with the aid and companionship of Kate, who had, since her 'talk' with Sawyer that morning, had kept her distance and held her tongue both.

Eko had disappeared into the jungle also, but in the opposite direction to the female fugitive and father, heading instead for the top of the rise, possibly under orders from Locke to scout ahead or his own initiative. Sawyer couldn't be sure and Sayid hunched over his stolen maps, alternating between the three main sheets of paper, held down at the corners by rocks while at the same time picking over his evening meal of fruit and the scarce amount of meat that Locke had divided out equally from the unlucky subject of his latest hunt. A rat. A rather large one, mind you, but a rat none-the-less, which Sawyer had chewed on thoughtfully, with all attempts at keeping an open mind only to discover that it tasted like greasy, gristly, three day old chicken wings.

As if the man had read his mind, Locke sat down beside Sawyer, where he was currently taking his turn at a two hour shift watch while the others went about their separate business, sending his gaze out into the darkening jungle foliage.

"How did you enjoy your meal?" Locke asked, inclining his head slightly as he settled himself and Sawyer snorted as he considered his words.

"I liked it well enough for a meal out here in the middle of nowhere," he responded at length with a growing smirk. "I'da liked it a lot more if an' you hadn'ta gone told me what I was eatin'."

Locke laughed at that remark. A soft chortling that sounded foreign coming from the usually hard, or at least less emotional man. Had he ever laughed before? In Sawyer's hearing?

"I'll take that as a compliment then." Locke answered when he had calmed himself once more, resting his elbows upon his drawn up knees, brown cotton trousers pulled taught over their twin rise.

"'Take it in what sense as thou will'." Sawyer snorted in reply and suddenly Locke was on his feet once more leaving the Southerner wondering if the Shakespearian quote he had just spoken had offended the older man in some way.

Locke grinned over his shoulder, however, that mysterious grin that simultaneously made Sawyer infuriated and a little unnerved.

"That reminds me," he spoke finally, calling back to Sawyer as he moved across their makeshift campsite, drawing Sayid's wary gaze away from his maps for all of a split second, to his own designated area where he rummaged through his pack. "I…found this…on the beach…" he grunted in slight effort. "Left by the…signal fire." He straightened suddenly, standing bolt upright and clutching a familiar looking object in his leathery, weather beaten hands. "I've seen you reading it a number of times, so I guessed it was yours."

The book sailed through the air towards him suddenly, making Sawyer shift swiftly, his hands cupping around the battered paperback that had left Locke's own grasp. And he studied the cover, although he had known deep down which book of his it was. It was the only one of his little collection that she read continuously.

_-Flashback- _

She lay in the shade of the trees beside their shelter on her front, propped up onto her elbows as her eyes scoured the pages of the literature before her, twirling on of his pens between her fingers.

Most of his book collection she had read through, if not all. That was what she had called one of the 'great perks' about living with him. She got automatic dibs on his entire stash, be it books or alcoholic beverages or plain old asprin that she required. What was once only his, and given away or traded with great reluctance, now belonged to her as well…apparently.

He'd called her on it once, demanding to know why she suddenly had the right to rifle through his honestly pilfered belongings and she had responded that 'if she was giving him a piece of her ass, she deserved to be getting something in return' and Sawyer had gawped at her, not entirely sure if she was being serious or merely joking with him until she had flashed him a wicked smile and laughed wildly at the concern on his face.

"You readin' that one again, Sugar?" he felt bold enough to query from his semi-recumbent place beside her as he reached across the small space between them, lifting the corner of the book to view the front cover. "You read it more times 'an I have! I know you said you liked it as a kid an' I know there ain't nothin' to do on this damn island, but this is gettin' a little creepy. I mean, psycho slasher bunnies, Chica?" he chuckled deep in his throat and Ana swatted his hand away without taking her eyes from the page she was studiously reading.

"So I like the story…" she mumbled, absently, pen suddenly poised above the text, ready to underline something or circle a quote as she had taken to doing…like he had a long time ago. "You not got a favourite book, Tennessee?" her grin was fiendish as she worked, curling the corner of her mouth that was visible to him up into a smirk. "They not have books in the trailer park you grew up on?"

Sawyer snorted.

"Funny." He snarled, playing along with her teasing. "Regular little stand-up comedian, aren't ya?" he jerked the book away from her grip, drawing her glare, suddenly full of irritation, up to meet his. "For your information, Precious, I had a library card an' everything!"

His comment turned Ana's ire once more to amusement and she shifted onto her side, facing him and propping up her head onto her head.

"Well I never," she smirked. Wicked. Evil. Smug…Sawyer wanted to kiss her. "Boy can read!"

"Well I never," he responded in kind, replacing his urges to throw himself on top of her instead with the equally strong desire to wind her up some more. "Girl can use her brain!"

-End Flashback-

A sudden speech from Locke drew Sawyer out of his memory, causing him to turn to the hunter and ask him to repeat what he'd just said with a puzzled lift of his eyebrows, at which Locke smiled.

"The book. It's yours?" he stated more than asked and Sawyer nodded in confirmation as Locke returned to his previous seat beside him. "I thought so." His blue eyes lanced sideways, though Sawyer was unaware that he was under scrutiny until his watcher spoke once more. "Why don't you get some rest with the others? Relax at least if you're not going to sleep…maybe…do some reading since you've got that book there. I'll take my shift now."

Sawyer suspected that Locke was goading him to do something, leading him by the nose like a prize bull and he glanced down at the book him his hands apprehensively. But Locke, though suspicious in his actions and certainly so in his motives, had always offered him the very best advice. Locke's words had sorted out his head when he'd felt like walking into the cold, unrelenting seawater and making the depths his bed. Locke's words had helped to keep Ana-Lucia back at the beach where she was safe. And more importantly they had kept her there without him having to swallow his male pride and admit why exactly he was trying to protect her.

"Alright, Mr Magoo," Sawyer announced finally, standing and stretching out his already stiff muscles, shaking out the cramps in his legs. "I'll play your game." And then he paused, turning his back to Locke completely and rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. "I ain't never been one for etiquette an' such. But…I want to thank you…for that little speech you done made 'bout migratin' geese…Helped me sort out ma head right."

Locke smiled, cocking his head to one side and regarding the younger man's silhouette with a glance of polite puzzlement, resembling something of an owls visage.

"Whatever you gained from my words that day, Sawyer, was only a product of your own mind." He shook his head then and Sawyer turned back to glance over his shoulder, though not before shooting a glare to make certain that Sayid was concentrating upon his maps and not privy to his gratefulness.

"My words didn't help you sort out anything. You did that on your own." Locke continued and then his grin became somewhat sly. Sawyer would have called it 'teasing' if the concept of John Locke joking with him was not so absurd. "I was merely talking about wild geese."

Sawyer spun with a dubious stare on his features to meet Locke's own unfathomable, Cheshire cat wide grin, but before he could open his mouth to call him 'crazy' and dub him another new nickname more suitable to his obvious insanity, a wail went up. An agonized human cry through the night air like a claxon sounding the first attacks of war and that served to startle both Locke and Sayid to their feet beside Sawyer.

-oOo-


	8. Chapter 8

Heh. Sorry bout not updating sooner. But...I have good new! The Laptop Saga has ended with triumph for the forces of good! I have my laptop back and fixed and ready to rock and roll! Wayhay. And so here is the next chapter...or part of it. I'm not sure whether to make the next chapter into a continuation because it kind of cfollows directly on. Oh well, I'll wait and see.

I hope you like this chapter. Might be a bit muddled so far but it'll get straightened out later on. Hopefully now I'll be able to update more frequently.

Anywho, thanks for continuing to read this and for sticking with me through technical difficulties!

Later!

**Chapter 8.**

The jungle was bathed in darkness. Blackness so absolute that she could barely make out the faint outlines of the trees and scrub along the familiar winding pathway to the hatch, highlighted by the weak moonlight that managed to struggle past the thunderous, oppressive clouds that she could sense rather than see gathering overhead.

The air was hot and heavy. A constant pressure upon every inch of her skin, exposed or otherwise. It thrummed with a deep, vibrating current that ran through her and made her feel sick deep in her stomach. What it was, she couldn't tell, but it made her movements sluggish. Feet heavy as she trudged onwards. Hands feeling as if they had swollen to twice their usual size. She felt like she was moving through deep water, hindered by it's unyielding form.

And yet she continued on towards the hatch to take her shift as Jack had asked of her, stumbling over tree roots and rocks that went unseen by her wary eyes which were too intent on searching the shadows for danger.

Something didn't feel right. Something about the tang of the air was different. Metallic even. The darkness was closer, heavier. It moved and twined and shifted as she strode cautiously on, as if it were somehow alive, writhing black beasts or the shadows of them at least. It made her head spin, combined with the hot air and the headiness of the night.

The jungle was silent, save for the almost buzz that she couldn't quite hear, like the warning that the body gave out to let the brain know that it was about to faint. All the chatter of the birds and insects and wildlife had paused as if taking an awed breath, an inhalation held in anticipation of the events playing out below their perches and nests and above their burrows and warrens and dens. It was as if they knew what was on the brink of happening where Ana did not. As if they were part of the thing that lurked their, just beyond occurrence. But she shook those thoughts away almost a swiftly as they had been sparked in her. She was being ridiculous. It was more than likely the storm gathering overhead that had caused the eerie silence. All animals went quiet before a storm…didn't they? Perhaps it was even the coming thunder that made the air electric and the deep thrum of worry pool in her belly. Perhaps it was what was making her feel sick.

Her thoughts suddenly and unintentionally wandered to Sawyer of all people as she laid a palm against a tree trunk to steady herself on the uneven ground.

_'You're gettin' yourself all worked up 'bout nothin', Chica.'_ he would tell her, tossing his head back and laughing at her. '_Just 'cause you got a funny feelin' in your toe?'_

She could almost hear his relentless teasing, his amusement released in barking laughs until she usually forgot her fears and either socked him one, laughed along with him or landed a kiss upon him to shut him the hell up. But she softened in her remembrance slightly. Distraction was Sawyer's game, his way of calming her down and changing her attention from one thing to something less damaging than fear or anger. That was his way. It was what he had been trying to do that night before he left, but that time he had been attempting to keep her angry at him in order to stop her from fighting to be taken on the rescue mission and he had known her well enough to realise that she would fight until the bitter end for something that she wanted. His little stunt had done it's desired job alright. Had made her so furious that she couldn't think of anything else until it was too late and the 'hunting party' had set off on their way.

The reasons he had for not wanting her on the trek escaped her and she had puzzled over them for hours, since he had joined the group against her, making sure that she stay on the beach to 'watch his empire' as he had put it. Was it male pride? The whole, 'Me man. Me protect woman' charade? Was it really because he was thinking twice about choosing her over Mary Poppins practically perfect in every way Kate? She was still no closer to fathoming his motives and part of her niggled with worry that it was the latter of her notions. Why she was bothered was another enigma to her. Like she had thought before, when conversing with Jack, she owed Sawyer nothing, not loyalty really, it wasn't as if they were married or anything, no pre-nuptial agreement stating that if either were unfaithful that they would bleed the other dry of everything they had ever and would ever own. And so the reverse was also pertinent. Sawyer owed her nothing. They were just two people living together for mutual benefit in the aftermath of a trauma. They would probably never have hooked up back in civilisation. She would probably have locked up guys like Sawyer when she'd been on the force. They'd more than likely go their separate ways if they ever got rescued and though Ana tried desperately to tell herself that that was fine by her, what she wanted actually, she couldn't shake the growing feeling of not only fear that he would leave her, but hurt that he might consider doing so.

Only Sawyer himself knew his reason, and silently she promised herself that as soon as she saw him again, before she smacked him upside his head for ditching her, before she apologised to him for the way she had acted and even before she gave him a fitting and private welcome home party, she would ask him why exactly he had wanted to keep her in the dark. Keep her at the beach where she was of no good to anyone really, except Claire when she wanted to hide from Charlie.

"Where the _hell _are you when I _damn_ need you, Sawyer?" she demanded aloud suddenly, to the dark trees and bushes, through clenched teeth as she strode carefully on.

That was when she heard it, in response to her own rhetorical question. A sound that she didn't realise that she had heard until her bewildered mind ran over it again.

At first she dismissed it as her imagination playing tricks on her. She was tired and worked up, that was all. She wasn't going mad. She wasn't hearing things. And she doubled her pace until she heard it again, louder. Familiar. So familiar that she stopped mid-stride and had to resist the urge to turn around and run towards it. Instead she spun slowly where she stood, eyes fearful and yet hopeful in the same glance. And she saw it, eyes widening with disbelief at what they beheld.

"Howdy, Sugar. I'm right here."

-oOo-  
Sawyer's feet hit the uneven, downwards sloping jungle floor with so much force that the soles of his feet ached. His body, a blur, moving almost too fast for his legs to keep up with as gravity conspired to send him sprawling.

Locke was beside him, keeping pace well for an older man who had injured his leg not so long ago which had led to the tragic demise of Boone. Away to his other side, Sayid was another streak against the pitch black backdrop of the trees that they wove through.

The screaming had grown louder in a crescendo that had made Sawyer's ears ring, before fading out almost entirely, now no more than a pitiful wailing resembling something akin to an animal's mourning call. It was accompanied by voices murmuring, voices that could have belonged to Mike and Freckles, but where to indistinct to place a bet on it being them. He'd heard the whispers in the jungle before, hissing in his ear only to ebb when he spun to find the speaker. What if it was the Others come after them again? And they were all now running into certain death? What if they'd taken Mickey D and Freckles? Or _worse_? What if the screams, which had all of a sudden turned into silence, had belonged to Kate?

He halted his train of thought before it could go any further, before he could think something wicked like 'thank god he had stopped Ana from coming along' at the expense of Kate, and proving to himself once more that he was a nasty piece of work deep down. He fixed determination there in the forefront of his mind instead of concern, increasing his speed even though his lungs were burning like a btch and his vision was becoming blurry.

"Over here!" Michael's voice bellowed out from between the thick trees, which seemed to have moved themselves closer together of their own accord to keep the three sprinting men from passing through, and the relief that shot through Sawyer astounded him, nearly sent his adrenalin fuelled body crashing to his knees. "Over here! We need some help, man!"

They traversed together, in time like three wing-mates who had flown together for years, turning to their collective right. Locke and Sayid breeched the edge of the clearing first as exhaustion and fading adrenaline had begun to make Sawyer's movements slower. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, came Eko, silent as a shade from the grave, slipping past him from behind where he had apparently been watching their backs for them.

Sawyer gave a dry cough as the air he clawed into his body made his throat ragged, using a tree to support himself as he too entered the clearing, finally taking in the scene playing out before them.

His eyes widened in shock.

"Well, I'll be _damned_!" was all that passed his lips between breaths and a steadying heartbeat.

-oOo-  
"What the _hell _are you doing here! I thought you left with-"

Sawyer raised his hand for silence, grinning his dimpled grin all the while at her stunned expression. His other hand clutched something down by his side.

"Never mind that now, huh?" he grinned wider again, if that was at all possible. His cockiness there, his bravado, but there was something about him that was not quite…right. Something was missing. Different. He was changed somehow.

"Sawyer, I-" she tried again to get her words out over her astonishment that made her throat close over and her tongue thick and heavy, but once again he shushed her, holding out the thing that his hand clutched for her to see.

The first thunder rippled over their heads. One, one thousand. Two, one thousand. Three, one thousand. Four, one thousand. Five, one thou-

Lightened streaked, illuminating everywhere blindingly. Then it was gone. Dark again.

Five miles away.

"Lookit, Chica." Sawyer chuckled, his voice a rumbling growl, one that she had missed terribly even though he had only been gone a single day. "Lookit."

He sounded like a little boy excited about showing off his favourite possession to a friend and she had to suppress her own smirk of amusement.

A million thoughts raced through her mind all at once, jumbling them together almost into incoherence. Why was he back? Was it because of her? Speak, or think, of the Devil! But like her smirk she suppressed all of her disjointed, half hearted misgivings. She only cared that he was there standing in the pre-storm darkness before her. She wasn't bothered right then about the how's and why'. She'd ponder over them later…much later.

"You're not _lookin'_!" he growled suddenly, sounding hurt almost and that time her smile broke across her face freely.

"Alright, alright! I'll look at the damn thing! Keep your pants on!" she bit out her reply in feigned annoyance, stepping back over the distance between them and capturing his wrist, strangely cold in the mugginess surrounding them, to keep it still. "Well?" she glanced up at him briefly before sending her eyes back down to his curled hand expectantly, watching as his fingers slowly uncoiled, back and away from the item sitting in the centre of his palm.

Thunder roared a second time. Louder. And as Sawyer's fingers peeled away, in what seemed slow motion, an eternity, she counted again. One, one thousand. Two, one thousand. Three, one thousa-

Dazzling light split the sky in warning. Three miles away now. Coming closer. Making the uneasiness grow in her gut and squirm it's way up to her diaphragm.

Ana's brows knit together in confusion and she blinked several times to try and clear her gaze, trying to make the image before her make more sense to her confused brain.

"Sawyer-" she started to speak, shooting him a wary stare and releasing his wrist to pull away from him slightly, but like the other times before he interrupted her. Harsh blue eyes suddenly chilling, making her shiver almost as much as his words did.

"Watch it. Watch it move." he spoke, voice so low that it made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle and stand on end.

It's golden needle, glinting in the faint moonlight as it spun first north, then east, then south west and north again. It wasn't spinning like a compass disrupted by a magnet should. It was jerking, like the hand of a clock gone awry.

North, west, east, north east, west, south east, north.

On and on it went, ticking faster and faster and yet in motions more and mort stilted and disjointed.

The unease had risen icily into her chest, clutching like a skeletal hand about her heart and constricting it, making the beat erratic. She fought hard against the urge to step back from Sawyer and turn tail and run, but her feet remained in that one spot, glued there whether by fear or some force unknown. She didn't even knew why she felt so terribly anxious. It was only a compass. A broken one at that…wasn't it?

"Watch it, Ana-Lucia. Watch out for it. For them. All directions. Every direction. Gotta watch out for them, Ana-Lucia." his voice no longer held it's familiar southern twang. He never called her by her full name. Never. It was always some stupid pet-name or dubious term of affection. She frowned up at him. Sawyer never called her 'Ana-Lucia'. This wasn't like Sawyer at all…And then it hit her, like a sledge hammer to her chest making her release her breath in a ragged exhalation.

It wasn't Sawyer! It wasn't him!

-oOo-  
Michael spun around to see them as they all came to a halt, face stricken, as if he had seen a whole host of ghosts, let alone one measly poltergeist. He stood upon the other edge of the clearing, the break in the seemingly never ending sea of trees. His gun, taken from Jack's carefully guarded case, and filled with ammunition from the hatch supplies, clasped deathly tight in his fists as he surveyed the jungle, making Sawyer think that it wasn't so far fetched that he had actually seen a ghost or something.

Kate, however, was crouched on the ground, though, after a closer inspection on his part, not injured as he had first expected. Relief swept over him like a breeze on a hot day then. She wasn't hurt. She clasped something to her in a comforting embrace. A shaking, rocking, sobbing form that, every so often, tried to fend her away half heartedly. A person! He realised with some shock. Who in the hell was out in the middle of the damn jungle of fun and games?

"_Cindy_!" Eko's deep, disbelieving voice boomed out over the distance and the huddled woman's crying. Her head, short blonde hair matted with mud and other, unidentifiable things, face streaked with dirt and tears alike as she glanced up at him sharply, in fear. She had no shoes on. Legs coated entirely with the thick, slippery jungle floor and scrapes that oozed her own blood, thorns still digging mercilessly into some of the deeper cuts.

"I don't know who you are." she sobbed, at first quietly, shaking her head almost in apology. As if it was her fault. "I don't know where I am. I was on a plane. A stewardess. I don't remember. I don't know any of you. I don't know! I don't know who you are!" she became progressively louder as she spoke until she was hysterical, scrabbling and clawing at Kate's protective arms and attempts to sooth her, to break free and bolt into the darkness once more.

Sayid murmured something in aghast Arabic.

Locke scrubbed at his forehead, frown pensive.

Sawyer could only gape.

Cindy was alive and like Claire she couldn't remember a damn thing.

-oOo- 


	9. Chapter 9

Here is the next part. I really enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you like it to. Back to an all Ana-Lucia chapter I'm afraind, but we'll find out what happens to the rest of the group in the next one. Promise.

Hopefully, if there aren't too many customers in work this evening (I'm stuck working the bloody night shift again ) I'll have the next chapter written and possibly typed up for sometime Wednesday night. Woohoo. What will no more Lost for us poor Brits to watch anymore...well, not until the spring anyway.

Anywho, I'll let you get reading.

**Chapter 9.**

Thunder cracked above. An ear-splitting noise that made Ana-Lucia cover her ears with her hands instinctively. Reflexively.

It was above them now. Circling and even though she was too distracted at that moment to continue counting out the seconds and discern how far away the storm actually was, her efforts wouldn't have been needed as the lightening tore open the sky with scorching, neon radiance even before the thunder had finished roiling through the heavens like a deafening beat on a drum.

She recoiled from the person posing as Sawyer as fast as she could, hands still clasped over her ears, stepping backwards carefully and yet deliberately instead of turning tail and running for fear of turning her back upon whoever, or whatever, it was. For fear of what he would do if she didn't have her eyes on him the entire time. She dared not even blink.

Her heart pounded in her chest like a hammer striking against an anvil making it thrum deep inside her. Making her entire body ring with the force with which it beat. As if it was trying to break free of her ribcage and bolt away from the danger like she herself wanted to do. But the fear, the sheer weight of the anxiety settling across her like a second skin, the pressure paralysed her in the shadows of the thunderous night and the stare of the counterfeit Sawyer considering her.

The unease in her stomach multiplied tenfold as his form, so familiar and yet so not him, stood before her, face no longer smiling. Hand no longer stretched forth to offer her the compass. All she could do was stand. Counter his stare, disturbingly blue.

He simply stood, the thing that had stolen Sawyer's likeness to get close to her, to lull her into a false sense of security. But why? That was the question. What exactly had he just told her?

"You-" Ana started to speak and then paused, her throat closing over slightly, feeling still slightly unnerved that she was speaking to something so like him. "_What_-?"

He shook his head causing her to fall silent once more, snapping her mouth shut and clenching her teeth against her tongue to keep the dread from bubbling up her throat from her lips.

She was trained. She had to remain calm.

A deep breath. Then another. And two more. A deep breath.

Time had come to a standstill, swirling between them in it's imaginary patterns, disturbed only by the very first large, stinging drops of rain from the clouds still glowering wrathfully on high. She felt them splatter down, heard them pattering on the soft earthen ground and clacking against the leaves overhead like someone cracking a whip over and over again. Sporadically at first they fell, hitting her burning shoulders, hunched, ready to swing her fists up and defend herself if the need arose. Then they came copiously. Lavished down as if the sky had thousands, millions of the giant silver globes to spare.

The shock of the wetness and the bitterness drew a gasp from her lips and she took her chance then to step further away from him until her back thudded against the comforting hardness of a tree trunk, rough and splintery though it was. Her hands slapped down, palms seeking out the coarse bark as if trying to anchor herself to it. Something real to hold onto when the very epitome of the unexplained was standing before her, trying to tell her something. To warn her, perhaps.

"You said watch out for _them_," she managed to call back across the halted time and distance between them, continuing faster, so that he had no time to cut off her speech again. "Do you mean…the Others? Are they coming_ here_?"

He neither acknowledged her question nor her presence any longer. A curl simply drew his lips up into the infamous Southern smirk that she knew so well and his eyes, glazed eerily all of a sudden, focused no longer upon her but past her. Seeing through her, as if she were no longer there…or he wasn't.

"_Answer _me!" she demanded, her courage suddenly returning as this new, motionless and sightless, imitation Sawyer studiously ignored her and her confusion soared.

And as if in reply to her plea, she heard a voice, familiar again, though she was wary now of it's authenticity. A voice calling, shouting out a name desperately. She had the distinct feeling that she had lived through those moments before as she snapped her head in the voice's direction, unaware that she was following the stare of the man before her.

"Walt!"

The voice was female. Familiar. She knew the tone of fear running deep through it's timbre, cracking when it reached the height of the woman's yell.

"_Walt_!"

She'd heard it's fevered and panicked pitch before, not so long ago. Deep in another jungle, or another part of it. In another time, or what seemed was only yesterday. In another life. She knew it. And yet she didn't. Something about it was new. Something was changed. It was more certain about what, or who exactly, it was searching for. The owner of the voice believed now. The last time Ana had heard the cry go up-was it a month gone?-she had heard the uncertainty in the call. The unspoken concern that perhaps the voice's owner thought she was chasing a ghost.

Then it hit her.

"Shannon!" she yelled out, her own voice's desperation surprising her. "Shannon, stay where you are! I'm coming to get you!" and she whirled as she spoke, looking back towards the false Sawyer only to find him gone. Not a sign that he had been there at all. Not a sound to announce his departure, only the empty ground, the vacated space where he had stood, had held her attention and fear for long moments. Had he really been there at all? Was her sanity leaving her right when she had the greatest need for it to remain where it was?

Time had righted itself it seemed and flowed freely about her now in the lashing rain and she turned and spun trying to find the figure that she had been speaking with mere moments, seconds previously.

He had to have been there. He had to have left something, some thing, in his wake. He had been so real. She had held his wrist. She had touched him.

"Who's out there!" Shannon's voice came back through the undergrowth, closer now, a fearful note suddenly making it higher and more full of breath. As if she gasped. As if she wheezed, finding it hard to fill her lungs. Made it waver slightly as if she hadn't thought that she would actually find anyone on her excursion into the jungle depths. And suddenly she crashed through the brush, stumbling like she had the first time that they had come face to face, though not falling to the ground and lying deathly still like she had before. "_Ana_!" the relief in her voice was amazing. Overwhelming as she lurched forwards, golden brown eyes wide as the terror partially left them at seeing Ana's familiar form.

Stiff, cold arms wound around her neck in a fleeting embrace of relief before she pulled away again and instead icy hands gripped at Ana's forearms, wrapping around them tightly, knuckles brilliant white in their desperation. Her breathing was laboured.

"Shannon, calm down." Ana tried to sooth, despite the larger part of her that wanted to join the blonde's panic and run with her back to the caves. But Shannon would pass out long before then, perhaps even die, she thought, remembering overhearing that the younger woman suffered with asthma. "Deep breaths. In through the nose." she curled her own hands about Shannon's forearms in a mirror-gesture, giving her the comfort that she apparently craved, clamoured for. The reassurance that Ana, standing before her, was real, as Ana had sought by pressing her back up to the tree. "What is it?"

"Did _you_ see him!" Shannon demanded between frantic gasps. "Did you _see_ him come through here!"

For a long, bewildered moment, Ana thought that she was speaking about Sawyer, or the image of him that she thought she had seen. How could she know? Had she seen him too? And she barely managed to restrain herself from demanding as such and shaking the trembling girl in her anxiousness for the truth. For the confirmation that she was not going mad, or that if she was, at least someone else was there going insane with her.

"I thought he was gone," she continued suddenly, startling Ana out of her thoughts. Her voice was low and deep and her eyes flitted about them where they stood beneath the wide tree, arms linked together. "But he keeps coming back and I don't understand what he's trying to _tell _me." tears now glossed her amber eyes, welling up and streaming down her face to mingle with the pouring rain that soaked the pair of them to the bone. "I don't know what he _wants_ from me…" she was distraught, the fear making her asthma flare up worse and in turn her emotions spiral out of control. "I _know_ that he's out there. I _know_ it. I _need_ to find him. He keeps coming to _me_. I keep seeing him, when no one else _can_."

Then she realised. Shannon wasn't talking about Sawyer. She hadn't come out searching the darkness and night for the Southerner's form. She had been calling for the boy. Walt.

"Don't worry. They're _all _out there looking for him." Ana tried once more to comfort her, to take her mind away from their current situation. "Locke and Eko and your man, Sayid. Sawyer and Michael. Even Kate. I _know_ they'll find him."

But blonde locks whipped out amid the rain, sending water lashing out every which way. Denying Ana's words of assurance.

"No. He's _telling_ me something. He speaks to me but I don't understand it. He's trying to _warn_ me."

Alarms bells went off in the back of Ana's mind, making the place where her spine became her neck tingle.

Warning. A warning. The Others. They _were_ coming.

"You shouldn't be out here alone, Shannon." she murmured, turning away from her abruptly with the pretence of scanning for the way back to the caves while, in fact, she searched again for any evidence of the entity that she had been conversing with prior to Shannon's arrival.

"I'm _not _alone." Shannon stated evenly and Ana could hear the curiousness, the wariness in her tone. "You're here."

Silence, save for the ever falling, relentless downpour, wove out between them as she felt Shannon's eyes burning a hole in her shoulders and she paused in scrutiny the area, debating whether or not to speak the words and tell her, let another person know what she had just been through.

"You know something!" Shannon demanded fiercely, taking a stride in her direction. "You saw something too, didn't you? Was it Walt?"

Ana shook her head and as she did Shannon spoke again, refusing to believe that Ana hadn't witnessed anything, telling her that she knew she was lying. Calling her bluff.

"Sawyer." she stated bluntly.

"What?"

She turned slowly to fix the taller woman with a resigned glance.

"Sawyer. I saw him. Not Walt."

"But Sawyer's out there with the-" Shannon began in confusion, waving her hand in the direction of the deeper jungle and the mountains that the search party had headed for.

"I know…"

-oOo- 


	10. Chapter 10

Right. Sorry that I didn't post sooner. Bad me. And apologies now for this. Not a lot actually...happens. It's kind of a bridge-chapter. Needed to be written but just not really action filled. I wanted to write more but it's little sister's (who let me use her computer when mine was indisposed) 16th birthday (yay, all i need another teenage sibling) and we're going to Lazer Quest. so I think I'm going to do another part to this chapter. It's relatively short as well. Damn me.

Thanks for your continuing support, reviews and for taking the time to read this stuff. Y'all are stars!

So, I'll let you get on and read this. Even if it is uneventful. Has some Sawyer thinkin' though...as a kind of consolation prize!

**Chapter 10.**

"It's okay, Honey. It'll be alright. You're safe now. No one's coming for you."

Kate's voice, smooth, whispered and calming, soothed well into the remaining night and into the early hours of the morning, offering hushed murmurs of reassurance and comfort to the exhausted woman, cowering nervously and still sobbing, even though her voice had long since lost it's volume.

They had managed, just barely, between the six of them to usher Cindy back up to their camp, though it had taken them all of their combined effort and persuasive techniques to convince her that they were not the ones who she was terrified of. That they were, in fact, all survivors from the same plane crash of the 815, an admission in itself that had done more damage than good and had set her off into another panic. Longer minutes it had taken them to ease her shaking, bedraggled body, dressed in a blue button up uniform shirt, too thin to offer her any protection from the volatile, changeable island weather, and covered almost entirely in mud, up the steep slope to the almost-summit.

Every shadow at the base of a tree suddenly caused her to start in fear. Every rustling movement of undergrowth provoked terror so strong in her slight frame that is sent her crashing down into a crouch, arms wrapped protectively over her head, or darting sideways, trying to escape into the trees like a spooked horse.

Eventually, though, bone weary from the void left by the spent adrenalin gone from their systems, they returned to their camp to find it, quite remarkably, untouched. Fire still burning cheerfully. Belongings left exactly where they had dropped them the minute that they had heard Cindy's anguished cry. And yet, their wariness was not eased in the slightest.

"She's sleeping." Kate announced in a fatigued whisper, stepping away from the now silent form of the plane stewardess, to where her male companions had huddled together, apart from where she had been trying to calm Cindy, their presences only serving to inflame the situation. Why they did not know.

Sawyer sent his eyes around the small, morose group, watching the same expressions of relief, exhaustion and concern pass over each face, through each pair of down turned eyes, one after the other. The same expression that he knew was plainly read upon his own features.

"That's good." Locke nodded grimly, thin lips compressed into an even narrower line than usual. His eyes, Sawyer noted, were not ground-ward staring as everyone else's seemed to be. Instead they glared devoutly into the night. Seeking something out, for any sign of Them.

Right then, Sawyer wished desperately that he had never stopped Ana from coming along. For selfish reasons more than anything. She knew about the Others. She knew their tactics and her aim was as deadly as her killer right-hook. He knew that from personal experience. Plus, it wouldn't have hurt to have the reassurance that there was someone there willing to watch his ass for him…Properly. Not that the others of the entourage would leave him hanging if things did get a little hairy, but Mike was out to find his boy. The half-pint would come first in his mind and that was the way that it should be, between father and son, even if Sawyer was a little bitter about his own screwed up relationship with his father. Locke was there for the island. His fanaticism, his desire to do the island's bidding, while it creeped Sawyer out, was what drove the older man and kept him at his best and yet, he was left with no doubt that 'John Locke-Others Hunter' would leave him behind in a heartbeat if the "island desired another sacrifice". Sayid was there for Sticks. Plain and simple, no two ways about it. To keep her safe from the threat of the Others and perhaps the death that she had cheated when she had recovered from the wound given to her by Ana-Lucia's "killer aim". Kate and Eko, however, unlike the others, were there for themselves. Whether for redemption or religion or for the hell of it, along for the ride. Perhaps all of them combined together. They were on their own missions, with their own agendas and if Sawyer wasn't included in them, if he messed up their carefully laid plans, again he'd find himself in their slipstream.

One way or another they'd all leave him if the need arose…accept for Ana if she had come. But Sawyer mentally shook his head. He was being self-centred again. He was being the person that he had never wanted to turn into and yet, ironically had. He was being like her father and the notion of that was so repugnant that he discarded any more thoughts and wishes for Ana's company, throwing them to the back of his mind. He was on this damn crazy mission for her. Yes, he owed Mike. Yes, he and Mike had developed a friendship, a camaraderie that had taken him by surprise, as had his desire to help his compatriot in his quest. Never before had he wanted to do anything if it didn't benefit himself in some way. But mostly, he was doing it for her. He knew the fear that she had gone through living those forty eight days on the other side of the island. Well, perhaps not knew it. Recognised it more like. He could see it glitter in the depths of her dark eyes whenever the Others were mentioned or their story retold to the survivors that they now lived with. He knew it kept her awake at night sometimes, though he never let her know that he was witness to her nightmares. To her waking with a jerk and a deep intake of panicked breath, hand pressed to her heart as if it thundered inside her until she scrambled for the shelter entrance and fresh air. She never knew that he waited, lying awake staring at the dark patterns bathing the blue plastic tarp ceiling for the long minutes, often hours, that it took for her to return, calm and collected once more, often wet and freezing cold from swimming in the raging sea. He sometimes tried testing the waters with her when the morning came with a deceptively cheerful '_Sleep alright last night, Chica?_' giving her the opportunity to talk to him about it if she ever felt the need to lighten her burden. She always answered with a shrug of tanned shoulders as they ate their breakfast together, however, and changed the subject.

"Poor Sheila," Sawyer commented aloud suddenly, steering his thoughts away from Ana-Lucia and to the matter at hand. "Damn Other bastards!" and his thoughts drifted dangerously close to Ana once more. He almost allowed himself to consider that it could have been her that had been taken by the Others upon that treacherous hike that they had embarked on what seemed an age ago. "You think maybe she can point us in the right direction? Where she came from? Where they took her?"

Locke shook his head at Sawyer's many questions but it was Sayid, ever the voice of reason, who spoke up instead.

"She is far too traumatized to be of much use in that matter." he replied, tone almost musing, letting Sawyer know that behind those dark eyes, a soldier's brain was puzzling out their next move. For once that notion was somewhat of a comfort to him.

"She can't come with us, Man." Michael injected from where he sat, knees drawn up as a support for his elbows, hands linked together in between. "She's been through God knows what!"

"Someone needs to take her back down to the caves. Get Jack to examine her. Try to figure out what _They_ did to her…" Locke announced with a firm nod and, out of the corner of his eye, Sawyer saw, at the older man's words, Eko's fists clench, pulling dark skin taut over powerful, granite-hard knuckles. Absently Sawyer hoped that he'd never been on the receiving end of one of those things flying at him, especially if the Nigerian man had half the strength, speed and good aim as Ana did…Damn, there he went thinking of her again! He was his own worst enemy. Never mind Sayid being a torturer, he could do it perfectly well on his own and his form was far worse than having bamboo hammered up beneath his fingernails.

"We need to have at least one person capable of tracking with us," Sayid continued, voice even. Methodical in his thinking. "One is good. Two preferable if we want to be doubly certain of _where_ exactly we are heading, but perhaps one of you should go back. To make sure that Cindy reaches safety." he indicated his maps suddenly, jabbing a finger at them as he held them up with his other hand. "I can read the maps but, John, Kate, tracking is your area of expertise." he paused again, to consider them both in turn. "You need to decide between yourselves who is-"

"We should let the island decide." Locke interrupted drawing a mildly irritated stare from the Iraqi sat cross-legged opposite him. "Make it fair." then came his eerie smile. The one that Sawyer knew only too well. One that meant that John Locke knew something that they did not. "It's an easy enough hike back down through to the caves. Shouldn't take longer than half a day as it's mostly downhill." his blue eyes flashed, squinting in mirth, skin creased and weather worn at the corners. He considered them each one after the other, in turn. "We should dr-"

"Draw _straws_, John?" Kate interrupted with an irate shake of her head. "Are you sure that's a _good_ idea? I mean, you said you wanted to make this _fair_." a dark look flashed through her eyes, focused only upon the bald man. "Remember what happened last time we left things up to fate, _John_?" she arched her eyebrows as he blinked back at her in what looked like mild surprise. Sawyer, despite their dire situation, couldn't help but feel slightly curious and more than a little amused at the exchange. "You helped Jack cheat!"

Sayid smirked behind a strategically raised hand. Michael raised his eyebrows to Sawyer and Eko studied the muddy patterns upon the ground at his feet. Sawyer just plain out chuckled, earning him a fleeting black look from the female part of their troupe before she returned her glare to it's primary target.

"Jack isn't here." Locke countered, laughter almost, though not quite, lighting his voice. "I don't have a reason to cheat anymore."

Her mouth hung open as a response failed to come to her and she settled for narrowing her eyes suspiciously and folding her arms across her chest.

"Drawing straws is fine by everyone else? Yes?" Locke continued as if Kate hadn't interrupted at all, smiling triumphantly when they all nodded their assent. "The luck of the draw it is then."

-oOo-  
She decided on the spot that she had to turn around and accompany Shannon back to the safety of the caves. Partly to make sure that she actually went back, stubborn as the blonde woman was, instead of continuing her desperate search for the absent Walt further into the jungle, the night and dangers unknown, and partly because she felt that she owed the young woman as much for shooting her, albeit accidentally. She felt obligated to keep her safe.

If she left her now, to find her own way back and her asthma flared up again, Sayid nor any of the other survivors would forgive her, not that many of them had anyway besides Claire, Jack and of course Sawyer.

Sawyer. That single name settled the inner debate raging inside her. The thought of what she had experienced alone in that very spot where she stood, hazily aware of Shannon speaking again about Walt's appearance to her, made her decide that Libby could hold out at the hatch for another hundred and eight minutes until she had returned Shannon to safety and into the watchful custody of Jack.

Jack. Another name that enforced her already made decision. Perhaps she could ask him, in a round about way about what she had seen. Perhaps he could tell her if she was going clinically insane…

"Come on. We're leaving." Ana announced, cutting off Shannon's puzzled exclamations about the warnings that they had received and beginning a swift march back in the general direction of the caves.

And as soon as she had started walking, had taken her first step, she couldn't stop. Perhaps it was the memory of her fear, of the utter audacity of what she had just been witness to. More likely it was the desire, running deep and hot within her, to put a greater distance between herself and the place where it had occurred. Even though the ends of the earth would not even be far enough.

"Wait up!" Shannon called, jogging to catch up and Ana, out of her duty to her young companion, forced herself to slow. Her gait to slip in speed a fraction as they fell into step beside each other and continued their journey in a companionable silence. Each knowing what consumed the other's thoughts.

-oOo- 


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11. **

"The longest straw gets to go back home with Cindy. Shortest straws have to stay." Locke announced, surveying the circle.

After much arguing and resistance on Kate's part, they had agreed that Sayid should be the one to choose and hold the thin sticks in order to prevent a 'repeat of events' as the brunette had politely put it with a scowl on her face that was barely concealed.

Sawyer waited, breath stilling almost in his chest as the Iraqi offered his fist of sticks around them each in turn, starting with Eko.

The Nigerian man's hand dwarfed Sayid's own, relatively large fist, selecting one of the six twigs with long, deft fingers. A rosary perhaps, was clasped in his palm, then, faster than Sawyer's eyes could tell if he had selected a short straw, Eko withdrew his hand, turning his back to inspect it.

Sayid turned to Michael then, who had also argued bitterly about being included in the draw. Walt was his son, he had bitten out, his emotions wound so tight that his carefully erected façade of cheerfulness began to rip apart at the seams revealing the rawness that boiled beneath the surface. He had to go on the venture, he had demanded but Locke had persuaded him to take part, however, with silver words from a serpents tongue. More and more Sawyer was coming to realise that John Locke knew how to get his own way. If the island wanted Michael to find his son, he had said, he would indeed be chosen to do so.

Suddenly the hand of straws was before him, directly in his eye line as the other five, who had apparently chosen theirs with out him noticing, waited patiently and impatiently alike for him to draw his weapon. Two straws left. His and Sayid's.

He reached for the at length, fingers curling around the stem entirely so that no one but he himself would know it's true length. And then, for a breathless split second he paused, knuckles white as he tightened his grasp and then whipped back and away, tearing it from Sayid's hand and hiding it behind his back.

Deep down he knew. Instantly. Automatically he knew and all of his conflicting feelings of relief and disappointment welled up inside of him stronger than before when he had been regretting selfishly his decision to leave Ana at the beach. In safety.

His free hand slipped slowly behind his back to join the other, fingertips tentatively and blindly reaching for the edge of the stick, feeling the splintered ends where Sayid had cut it's length free. Feeling the smoothness of it's stem as he rolled it between callused digits.

It was a good four, maybe five inches long. By the looks of everyone else's faces it was by far the longest as they compared their straws, all similar sizes.

So, the 'Island' wanted him to go back with Cindy? Go back down to the beach? Back 'home' and meet the fury that was Ana-Lucia head on? Take it on the chin? Be a man? Sort things out…? His heart wanted him to do so as well. His self-centred side. The side that hadn't wanted to leave Ana in the first place, at least not with Jackie-Boy there without Kate to hold his attention. While the Cat's away and all and that side of him surged up again. Anew. Stronger and more potent than before. So much so that he nearly grinned, waved his straw in the air and began an off-key rendition of "Take me Home Country Roads". But then his sanity returned to him, as did his conscience, reminding him of the reasons why exactly he was out there in the first place…

He had someone to keep safe now. He had someone to protect, even if she'd damn well hang, draw and quarter him for saying that she needed protecting.

His fingers, curling tight around his longest straw, smoothed along it's length, the pads of his thumbs positioning themselves side-by-side in the vague middle. Slowly, eyes taking in his companions as they all stood oblivious, conversing and comparing their own choices, eager to find out who would be leaving the mission, he turned himself so that his hands were completely obscured by his broad back and loosed a barking cough for a suitable distraction. That instant he pressed his thumbs down into the stick swiftly and hard, harder than was necessary anyway, and it bowed before cracking in two with an audible click…And Sawyer winced at the sound, though it had to have been a near silent one, which rang exaggeratedly about his head, amplified by the fact that what he was doing was a little back-handed. He fancied that the snap of the tiny twig was echoing around them as loud as a beat on a drum, but not one of his group acknowledged it nor demanded to know what the noise had been.

He studied them intently nonetheless, as he disposed of the un-needed half of his stick by opening his fingers and letting it fall back down to the jungle floor, where Sayid had plucked it from, of it's own accord.

That was the moment, just as he was about to smile smugly and produce his straw, introducing it for comparison, that he noted Locke's eyes watching him. How had he not seen the older man's invasive stare before? Had he been watching the entire time? Had he seen? Did he know what Sawyer had just done? The enigmatic smile upon the thin, dry lips of the hunter told Sawyer that he had indeed seen and he did indeed know, but the true question was whether or not John Locke-Master of Mystery, was going to call him up on it and foil his devious plan.

"Sawyer," Locke murmured, as if on cue. As if, by some craziness he had read the southerner's mind, stealing the thoughts right out from between his ears. He pointed a languid finger in his direction. "Why don't we see your straw?"

Relief flowed through Sawyer's veins almost as fiercely as it had when Ana had not been accepted onto the Hunting Party, and smiling his own suddenly cocky once more smirk, silently thanking Locke with a minute nod of his blonde haired head, he held his hand palm out with the tiny twig that was left in it.

"Looks like you're stuck with me, boys and girls."

-oOo-  
"You saw Sawyer?" Jack's tone was part dubious and part sympathetic. His dark eyebrows had quirked in confusion and concern when he had seen Ana-Lucia making her way into the caves, when she should have been in the hatch taking her shift. His confusion had deepened further still when he had noted Shannon in tow. Both of them soaked to the bone. Both of them moving with an urgency which told him blatantly that something was wrong. That something had happened.

Never in his wildest dreams, however, had he expected what the two women told him.

"No," Ana countered, impatience in her voice now. "It only looked like Sawyer, but it wasn't him. He was trying to warn me and when I heard Shannon calling, he disappeared."

His eyes, wide now, flickered to Shannon's face for confirmation of Ana's story and when the blonde girl nodded her head vigorously he closed his eyes, scrubbing a hand over his confusion creased forehead.

"And what was this guy that 'looked like Sawyer', trying to warn you about?" he sounded tired and he kept his eyes shut as if doing so would deny the truth of the matters currently being presented to him.

Ana set her jaw and after a quick glance at Shannon by her side for support of her theory, she spoke aloud again, with confidence.

"Them." she grit her teeth as she spat the word forth with disgust, as if merely mentioning them had tainted her tongue with a bitter tang. "They're coming here. He said from all directions and that we needed to watch out for them. I don't know about you, Jack, but I consider that as a threat that we need to take into consideration. Too many lives are at stake for us not to."

He glanced up at her from where he sat opposite, elbows resting upon his knees as he leaned forwards and held his head in his large, powerful, life-saving hands.

"And what are you suggesting we do? Go on the word of…whoever, whatever it was that you say you saw? That looked like Sawyer? I mean he's not the most reliable of people anyway…"

Ana stared down at the floor of the cave between her feet, rain water still dripping from the tips of her ebony curls to form a puddle before her which had suddenly become fascinating and far more important than eye contact with Jack. She bit her tongue, clamping it in between her back teeth to keep from responding with heated words of her own to the slurs to Sawyer that the doctor had just spoken. She needed Jack to believe her right then. For all their sake's. She needed him to believe her. She needed him. And he had told her that very night that he was there if she ever needed someone to talk to.

She blinked once, slowly, raising her eyes cautiously up to meet his as she took a deep breath, tongue still secured safely between her molars.

"That's besides the point, Jack." she responded finally, voice low and she was shocked by her own calmness. She had no idea where exactly it was coming from but she surmised that she was currently still running on autopilot. Things hadn't begun to sink in yet, or their true repercussions hadn't anyway.

"What _is_ the point then, Ana?"

"People could die!" Shannon blurted before Ana could respond to Jack's contradicting query. "We need to get them down into the hatch, like you wanted to before. Last time."

"It could take days to move everyone down there and last time was a false alarm. What if this is one too?" Jack's features wavered now, close to believing them and yet the rational part of him, the doctor that still couldn't quite believe that he was stranded on such an island, held back stubbornly. He sighed wearily, sitting up straighter, squinting at them in the dim firelight from the mouth of the cave. "You want to move all those people for a false alarm?"

"What if it isn't?" Ana countered staunchly. Maybe Jack didn't want to back down and believe them quite yet, but neither was she going to take no for an answer. Too much was in jeopardy. Too much could be lost if they didn't take things seriously.

They lapsed into silence once more. Rain still falling outside. Fire crackling louder than before as it consumed the kindling at it's heat core with a smoky cough.

And Jack blew out a second sigh through his nose, standing and pacing away from the two women, sat side-by-side, to stand staring up at the ceiling of the cave. Hands scrubbing over his closely cropped, dark hair as if his head ached, as if he was trying to clear his mind and make the right choice for everyone. It was always about choices.

Finally he spun back on his heel to face them again, sand and stony soil crunching in protest as he did. And his eyes told them his answer before his voice announced it.

"Alright…"

-oOo-  
"I'm not going back!" words bitten out furiously. Dangerously.

"You chose the longest straw. It's what the island-"

"If you're about to say 'what the island wants', John…" eyes flashed lightening up at the bald headed man in warning. "I suggest that you don't!"

Locke shrugged, palms raised in surrender.

"It's only fair, Kate." he repeated his staunch belief, unmoved by her ire and again Kate argued against the decision of the straws, after it had turned out that she held the longest. The one sending her back to the caves with Cindy. Kate was not happy.

Her accusations that Locke had cheated once more had begun pouring forth from angry lips so loud that Cindy had woken fearful and shaking and all conversation about their next moves was halted while Kate calmed the woman again. Seeing her do so even eased the tiny slither of guilt that Sawyer felt for cheating at her expense. It was obvious that Cindy felt most comfortable in Kate's company. The Australian only considered the men with wide, frightened eyes. Like a rabbit caught between the headlights of a truck. It was better this way. Or at least so he told himself as he sat, eyes raising every so often from where he scrawled hastily onto the last page of the book that Locke had returned to him, to watch events unfolding around the makeshift camp.

"Alright…" her voice was softer, less bitter and harsh than before, as she moved away from the once more sleeping Cindy for the second time that night. She seemed to have taken notice of the fact that the stewardess responded to her with little fear. Cindy's safety was paramount in all of their minds right hen. It surpassed Kate's indignation, her need to prove herself and even her suspicion of Locke. "Okay, I'll take Cindy back to the caves."

"Finally!" Sawyer smiled, snapping his book shut and fixing the pen securely behind his ear. "Glad we sorted that one out, Sweetcakes." he stood, dusting the seat of his pants before he caught her arm and drew her away to the side of the camp, beneath a low hanging tree sprouting from beside the cliff face. "You couldn't do somethin' for me, could'ya, Freckles?" he queried beneath his breath, sapphire eyes catching and holding onto her own of emerald. "Couldn't do me a big favour?"

She seemed slightly taken aback by his friendliness towards her following their conversation that morning. Following the continued silence all day.

"That depends…" and yet apparently she wasn't so taken aback that she lost her edge. Still as cunning and cautious as ever and that made Sawyer smirk a little wider. "…On exactly what it is that you want me to do."

Sawyer wasted no time, thrusting the book into her hands unexpectedly and causing her to almost drop it. He held it there steady, pressing it down onto her palms for long moments as he spoke, his actions, the firmness of his pressure compelling her to take it.

"You'll make sure that Ana-Lucia gets a-hold of this for me, won't you, Puddin'?" he clenched his teeth as he paused, waiting for her reaction. Not yet daring to hope that she'd agree. He could already see the trepidation tinting her green eyes and making them wary but with his right hand he caught hold of one of hers and pressed it down on top of the novel, keeping his own covering hers. Almost as if he was trying to give her a glimpse of his desperation that she fulfil his one request of her, without actually having to voice it. "It's important." he continued, voice little more than a rumbling whisper in the air and Kate stared down at the curious book and their combined hands, silent still save for the deep breaths that she drew into her lungs.

"Okay." she replied finally, tugging her hands and the book out from between his larger ones. She took a step back to look him in the eyes again. "I'll make sure she gets it." and he believed her.

-oOo- 


	12. Chapter 12

A quick update because a two weeks hiatus on this fic is FAR too long! Thank you all so much for your continuing reviews and support, I love them and I love hearing what you guys think about this fic! I'll stop jabbering now.

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of it!

**Chapter 12.**

_-Flashback-_

She hadn't remained on top of the situation for long. A few seconds of racing heartbeats and that was all. Her smirk was teasing, much like his own, the glint in the depths of her dark eyes flared as she had queried, knowing full well the answer mind you, where exactly they had gotten up to before his conscientious interruption.

No. No way had he been willing to let her 'drive' for their first time and as she had grinned down, sat astride him smugly, he hadn't found it hard to flip her over onto her back and reverse their positions.

Ana hissed as the jolt to her ribs and the surprise came at the same moment and squinted her eyes as she tenderly inspected the bruise emblazoning her torso. A breath escaped out from between the captivity of her clenched and bared teeth but before he could voice any concern for her well being, she glared up at him, cursed him in thick Spanish and shoved him in the shoulder, sending pain flaring up to his brain.

"Ow! Damn it! What the hell was that f-"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence nor inspect his own injury before she had reached up, slithering a hand around the back of his neck and twining her fingers through the smooth blonde strands there, and yanked his face down towards hers, rising to meet him halfway.

There was a brief, breathless moment of surprise as the last stings of pain in his shoulder fizzled out, replaced instead by the feel of her lips, mouth hungry and hot and hard against his own, roaring up his nerves. Then he snapped out of his soreness-induced stupor, as she seemed to have done long before him, and returned to the game. Sawyer had never been one to back down from a confrontation and he didn't intend to start now…but her unoccupied hand had slipped to trace lazy patterns at the small of his back, treacherously low on his spine, having found it's way beneath his shirt and he almost surrendered then. So she wanted to play dirty, did she?

Ana smiled up against his lips, as if she sensed her imminent victory, her power over him in that moment, and broke away from him for air and a better look into his suddenly darker blue eyes.

"So that's where we were." she grinned as he leaned his body onto one side and combed his hair back out of the way with his free hand and a toss of his head.

"Like you didn't already know, Hotlips." he responded with mock irritation. "How 'bout we see if we can't take it a little further, huh? You up for takin' a tumble with chance?"

He moved carefully, before she replied, to settle his weight back atop her once more, though he tried to keep as much pressure as he could off her injury by propping himself up with an elbow either side of her, ignoring the ache that this caused in his shoulder.

"We've been anglin' towards this for a long-ass time, you an' I, Darlin'. All I can say it about time!"

Her only response to his words was a wider smirk that he deemed altogether far too smug for her own good and set about wiping from her face with a deeper kiss, if that was at all possible. But she fought back, not about to give into him that easily and melt like some fairy tale princess to her prince. Her tongue forced it's own way past his to curl against the roof of his mouth.

She was apparently intent on driving him insane…or to distraction. Whichever came first.

"Damn it, you're gonna kill me…" he tore his lips from hers and she growled in irritation, not feigned however as his had been prior.

"You talk too much!" she announced, hooking a leg around him only to flip him back over and beneath her once more. "Stop. Talking."

And he did as he was told, snapping his mouth shut and beaming up at her so widely that he felt certain his dimples would wear out soon. She tightened her knees about him as if she expected him to try and turn them over once more, but he was resigned. Besides, his view was a hell of a lot better from his current angle anyway. And so he amused himself, sliding his hands from her knees upwards until he reached her hips and the expanse of tanned skin that her bra and lack of shirt exposed to him. Thumbs hooked into her belt loops. Fingertips danced across the rim of her jeans, flirting with the nakedness there…until he felt it. Something different. Her perfect skin marred by something the size of his thumbnail. A little smaller maybe. So similar in size and shape to the very thing that marked his shoulder…

"What the h-?" he tried to sit up but she pushed him back with a palm forcefully against his chest, slapping his hands away from her waistband with the other.

"Don't." she warned in response, voice taut as she fended his hands away from their inspection a second time. "Just leave it, Sawyer."

"Now hang on, Chica!" he replied firmly, stubbornly, voice rising to match hers and he persisted in scrutinizing her, finding another similar mark higher on her left side. "These are damn bulle-"

She dismounted him before he could finish his sentence, pulling away from his invasive hands and searching for where he had tossed her top in the heat of the moment, settling for the nearest item of clothing, one of his plaid shirts, when she failed in her task.

"Hold on, Sugar." he soothed, reaching towards her but she shrugged him away. "Is this why you said it don't matter 'bout running outta-"

"I said 'leave it', Sawyer." she replied curtly, avoiding his gaze, and he suddenly felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water. All of the heat, the fire between them waning like a flame guttering in the wind. "Maybe this was a bad idea…"

"I'm only curious, Chica." he defended hastily as she yanked the shirt over her head, raising her arms one at a time to do so and inadvertently revealing another scar to his stare. "How'd you get them?"

"Please!" she stopped mid-dress, turning to face him finally with one arm rightly inside the armhole and one still out. "Don't!"

And the look that was on her face was one that he had never before seen upon the features of Ana-Lucia. Pleading. So desperate was she for him to drop the subject that he moved towards her and nodded his head in solemn accordance.

"Alright, Chica. Easy now. I'll shut up if you want me to that bad." he placated and relief flashed across her face making her shoulders sag a little. She obviously wasn't ready to tell him that story quite yet, but he promised himself silently that he'd be there when the time came, if the time came, and she wanted to.

"Thank you." she murmured, closing her eyes and rubbing a hand across her forehead as if it throbbed.

And an awkward silence fell between them as they sat opposite one another, neither daring to move or speak lest the moment be ruined further and slip away from them entirely leaving them cold and resentful even before their relationship had properly begun.

Finally, though, it was Ana who broke their stunned, trance-like state by shifting closer to him once more and, leaping at the chance to make things right again, Sawyer's grin returned and they silently agreed to ignore what had just occurred between them.

"As much as I love seein' you in my clothes, Hot-Stuff, I like seein' you out of 'em more." he teased the edge of the soft, blue plaid material with his fingers as he spoke, inching it slowly back up over her head. "How 'bout I give you a hand outta the rest of your clothes too, huh?"

And to his relief she didn't protest.

-End Flashback-

Sleep surrounded him, thick and dark and strangely comforting amidst all of their current tribulations. A welcome respite from the madness of the island, though he had found it difficult to drift off at first so use to having her warmth at his back and perhaps it was that which had triggered off his memories.

He had been sleeping for hours, perhaps an eternity or maybe a mere scattering of minutes. Either way he felt it was nowhere near a sufficient amount of time when something hard prodded him in the back, drawing him closer to the edge of sleep and waking.

"Listen to me, Sawyer." the prodding continued, digging right between his shoulder blades, accompanied that time by a hissing whisper of desperation and contrasting calmness.

Locke. Damn him, and Sawyer tried to roll over and glare at the older man for waking him only to be prevented from doing so by a harder jab to his spine.

"Keep your eyes closed and don't say a word." the voice of Locke hummed, smooth and low in his ear, almost disappearing into the early morning around them. Into the silence.

A million thoughts raced through Sawyer's brain all in the same helter-skelter instant. What was Locke doing? Had he gone mad? Was it even actually Locke? What if it was one of Them? What if it was one of the Others who had taken Walt? What if it was the One who had shot him in the shoulder!

"It's me, James." Locke continued in his hushed, barely audible tone as if he had guessed Sawyer's thoughts. "Just listen," he repeated. "They're here."

Blood thundered in Sawyer's ears, almost drowning out what Locke was telling him, but somehow he managed to catch it.

"They've come back for Cindy and I need for you to do exactly as I say. If you understand, move the fingers of your left hand."

Slowly, still in a shocked daze, still reeling with adrenalin at the thought that They were here, he wiggled the fingers of his left hand as it rested behind his neck as a makeshift pillow.

"Here's what I want you to do…"

-oOo-

Shannon had demanded rather than asked, that Ana and Jack both remain with her for the remainder of that night in the caves, refusing their suggestions that she would feel more comfortable in her own shelter even when Ana promised to move her blankets in and share it with her.

"I want to be here," she had replied staunchly, jaw set and amber eyes flashing in contestation. "I need to be here in case the come back with another warning. You need to be here too, Ana. you're the one who understood what they were trying to say."

And so, somewhat reluctantly she had agreed and the unlikely trio had bedded down for the few hours left of night, side-by-side, sharing the single plane blanket that was there between them and Ana found herself claustrophobically sandwiched in the middle. Shannon curled up on one of her shoulders, breathing heavily down her ear and Jack coughing relentlessly, tugging at the blankets and inadvertently kicking her with his size tens.

Never again! She swore to herself. Never again would she sleep next to either of them. Not even within a 500 metre radius. And she had though Sawyer's snoring had been bad! Give her Sawyer any day, he was so easy to sleep with compared to Little Miss Gale Force Breath on one side and the Bucking Bronco, who suddenly murmured that 'No, Kate, he didn't want to speak to the goldfish. It was evil and Jin was going to throw it back in the sea', on the other.

'Great!' She thought, scowling at the rocky ceiling, though Jack's words had amused her slightly. 'I'm sleeping with a pair of mental patients! Roll on daybreak!'

-oOo-

Strangely there had only been one of Them. It was all over so fast that Sawyer had barely been able to blink. Why had there only been one of Them? That query niggled away in the back of his mind, tainting his relief.

Eko had moved like a shadow, muscles rippling beneath taut skin as he moved through the trees from where he had apparently been keeping watch the entire night. Barely restraining himself and the fury he felt towards this…Other. This abductor of the innocent.

From what little Ana had told him of Them, he was surprised that Eko had actually been able to catch one off guard. To sneak up behind them and use their own tactics of silence and stealth against them. But he supposed that the Others were human too, if not entirely normal. They made mistakes. They messed up or else why would Cindy been able to escape? Why would the pregnant Claire had been able to for that matter? 

The purple bruise now blossoming beneath the Other's right eye was evidence that his theory was correct. The fact that the Other was now tied ruthlessly at the base of a tree trunk was yet more, but something in those dark, glossed over eyes, staring past them and through them dead ahead, contradicted the entire situation. Looking into that devout glare at something past them, Sawyer found himself feeling like the captive.

"Where's my son!" Michael demanded, voice rising with each time he asked it and each smirk and indolent blink that he received in reply as the Other seemingly ignored his presence and yet found his words amusing.

Mike was pacing the length of the camp, like a caged tiger searching for that chink in the fence that would serve as his escape. He had taken to his frantic striding following an outburst, the one that had formed the bruise upon their captive's cheek, and a stern warning from both Locke and Eko that he needed to stay calm and think rationally. Were they likely to get any answers at all if they allowed Michael his rage? No. And begrudgingly, Michael had concurred.

Silence once more met his furious demand and he released a growl of frustration from between clenched teeth and stalked away to where Kate was sitting with Cindy and trying to keep her from bolting away. Fear radiated from the slight stewardess. Her entire body shook as she snatched unwilling glances at the prisoner and pleaded, through her tears, that they not leave her alone.

"You are going to have to give us some answers soon." Sayid mused, crouched a little to the Other's left who ignored him save for the lazy smile, unconcerned of the knife that the Iraqi was using to sharpen bamboo sticks into fine, needle points.

Sawyer almost winced in remembrance of his own dalliance with 'Sayid the Torturer', though he knew that this time the spikes and torture devices were only for show and scare mongering.

"Where are the rest of your group?" Locke added standing directly before the Other who shifted to one side, straining to see around the bald man who was apparently in the way of something. Something important.

Another cat-like grin split the face disturbingly.

"This is bullsht!" Michael roared back across the distance. "I say we kill-"

Amusement now flashed across the dirt streaked, pale face. A brief snort, the only sound to have left those thin, sneering lips as the eyes, dark and hard and shining still stared devotedly into the distance, around Locke's hindrance, straight ahead-

Sawyer paused his thoughts then at the eerie sense that the gaze was not focused on the scenery as they had first thought. Was there more of Them waiting in ambush? Was that the reason for the self-assured, smug smirks? He allowed his own eyes to follow that of the Other's unblinking, glassy-eyed stare. Past Locke, across the camp, through the trees upon the other side of the clearing, stopping finally, and somewhat unnervingly upon-

"Freckles!" Sawyer called to her, earning him curious sideways glances from his companions. "How 'bout you come over here for half a minute?"

Cindy's eyes went wide at that suggestion, though she calmed when Michael placed an arm about her shoulders and turned her away to stare out at the brightening jungle-scape. And Kate cautiously moved towards them, gathered about the base of that one tree, eyes flickering to their captive's, which most definitely watched only her, before skittering away again.

"What's up?" she tried to keep the tremor from her voice, tried to keep it light and not allow her trepidation to show as the coal dark irises studied her every move. She was shaken up, they all were really, by the blur of events that had occurred on top of the night before.

"You try." he murmured to her, nodding his head to the tree. "Go on, try askin' something'."

And even though she opened her mouth to protest, looking to Locke and Eko and Sayid for confirmation that it was a bad idea, she only found them in support of the Southerner's request, eager to see where he was going with it. And she reluctantly nodded, crouching down so that she was eye level with the enemy.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself with one hand to the ground and swallowed.

"What's your name?" she queried, attempting nonchalance, obviously thinking the entire situation fruitless after a long hour of stubborn silence and spine-chilling smiles of flashed white teeth and curled lips.

But she was wrong.

"Nora. My name is Nora Hewmot, and it is so fortunate that you are here, Kate Austen."

-oOo- 


	13. Chapter 13

The next chapter w00t! I'm kinda on a roll at the mo, so I'm probably going to have anothger chapter up by tomorrow night. It's starting to get moving properly now and though this chapter may be a little confusing it's the start of my attempt at explaining the Others. I just hope you all are going to like my version of things! fingers crossed

Thank you for your lovely reviews and for continuing to read and keep the Sana-ness alive! Hugs

**Chapter 13.**

Following Kate's first, seemingly trivial question they couldn't shut her up.

Her eyes, dark and a somewhat self-satisfied smirk peered up at them as if they had suddenly all captured her attention. As if they warranted her conversation. Blonde hair straggled like straw about her face as she grinned up at them thinly. And they listened in an awestruck, horrified silence to what she had to say, offering no interruptions. Exactly what she wanted and they were playing right into her hands by giving her an audience, by leaving her words uncontested, each one of them knew it and each one of them were unable to break the spell that she suddenly had woven over them.

"So, so fortunate." she purred in delight. If her wrists had been free Sawyer was tempted to believe that she would be rubbing her hands together gleefully. "We never dreamed that you would be so artless as to bring Katherine with you upon your…quest, Gentlemen." she sneered taking obvious pleasure in watching the alarm dawning upon their features. "No, we were quite certain that you were going to bring the…other one." she snorted at that notion as if it amused her and Sawyer found her eyes inexplicably upon him, drawing a frown down his brow. "But, I suppose, even We miscalculate sometimes. Though that is not a habitually occurrence." a hummed chuckle fluted out through the early morning air, hung with pale grey mist. "I mean, We thought that for certain that the other one would be well out of Our way by now after the incident." her hard glare, the colour of cruelty if ever Sawyer had seen it, turned curiously to consider Sayid who had stayed his hands, though his knife was not far from his grasp. She was talking in riddles. In riddles about riddle. Talking in circles of past events that were now suddenly more significant than they had been when they had happened, though their meaning still eluded them and this woman, this Other was having her fun taunting them with answers just barely beyond their cognitive reach.

Sayid turned away then, shaking his head and speaking to her though he turned his eyes to the lightening sky.

"We do not know what you are talking about." he ground out bitterly and Nora laughed fully for the first time, instead of sly giggles that were made to show them that she knew something that they didn't.

"I think you do, Mr. Jarrah." she sang merrily. "I think that you do considering that you were the part of the equation that we had counted on to rid us of the other one."

Quickly, before Sayid could snap out a demand for her to speak clearly for once, Locke shook his head as if to clear it of some mental fog and crouched down before her, hands linked between his knees. His blue eyes, ones that Sawyer had always found unnerving, suddenly unnerved themselves which was a worrying concept in itself.

"Who?" he demanded, slightly breathless with the adrenalin coursing through everyone. "Who is this 'other one' that you speak of?"

And Nora Hewmot blinked languidly, her smile spreading wider across her face in satisfaction and she shifted her legs, crossing the over at the ankles as if she were getting herself comfortable for a long chat with an old friend.

"The one that likes to complicate things. Who has a tendency to get in Our way." bitterness flashed ever so briefly across her face, though she carefully controlled it until she could stamp it down completely and return to her previous, annoying, all-knowing self. "The one who killed Goodwin and Thea. The one who likes to fight the inevitable. The one that you, Sayid Jarrah, would have killed had the incident gone as planned." a mild annoyance had taken it's place in her eyes now as she spat her words up at them. "Oh, we had high hopes for you, Sayid. And you let us down spectacularly. There shall be no clemency for you. But, alas," she snorted lightly shaking matted hair from her eyes with a regal toss of her head before turning her attention back directly onto a nervous Kate. "I digress. We have no use for the other one, so imagine our delight when you gained a position on this little hunting party, Katherine! It seems that not all is lost."

"You need to shut your damn mouth, Bitch!" Michael snarled from across the camp where he stood protectively between Nora's gaze and Cindy and Eko stepped a little closer to him as if he thought that the other man might fly off the handle again, attack their prisoner and bestow upon her another blossoming, purple bruise. But Nora seemed unconcerned by Michael's hostility. On the contrary, she was enraptured by it.

"Ah, Michael Dawson. None of this would have been possible without your help." she replied, narrowing her black eyes, smile thinning. "You made it so easy for us to take Walt. We barely even needed to try. Do you remember me? Do you remember me now, Michael? I supposed it was dark that night, so I can excuse you if you do not."

Fury boiled beneath Mike's skin confirming that he did indeed recognise her as the woman who had been aboard the boat that fateful night. Sawyer could see it in the way his muscles coiled and his jaw clenched so hard that his entire frame shook but Cindy's hands suddenly curling about his left forearm made him turn away, though his shoulders remained rigid with tension.

"Alright, Chatter-Box." Sawyer snarled, squatting down so that his eyes were almost level with hers, swallowing his own anger at her words to Michael. "You gonna start talking straight?"

She swung her glance to him with another blink of red rimmed eyelids and stubby brown lashes and he had the distinct feeling that it was now his turn beneath her scrutiny, as if she were judging him. As if he were being tested.

"James Ford," she clicked her tongue several times in mock-reproach, shaking her head patronizingly as she did so. "What a surprise. What a surprise indeed. We never took into consideration just how much you could help us. Admittedly We were rather disappointed that you did not act upon your instincts when she revealed to you her secret. We know that you had the urges, James, and yet, just like Sayid, you allowed yourself to be swayed into saving her." she tutted again, though just the once that time as he stared at her in wide-eyed horror. He knew, now, who she was talking about. Who the 'other one' was. The one that they had no use for. "But, unlike, Sayid, you came through for Us in the end and I must say, that little display you put on at the beach the evening before you left…Spectacular!" her grin was as wicked as her laugh and she glared up at him unflinchingly, taunting him almost. Trying to goad him into action or response. "Bravo, James. You had Us concerned there for a moment, but We always had faith in y-"

Before she could finish her words and before with Locke, Sayid or Eko could prevent him, his hand lashed out and slapped her hard enough across her left cheek to split open her lower lip and send a trickle of crimson down her chin. He'd been brought up properly in his childhood, underprivileged and traumatised though it was. He'd always been taught that no man should ever hit a lady, no matter the circumstances…but he was beyond caring, deciding that this case was an exception. She deserved it, especially when she dared to even speak of Ana-Lucia, insinuating that she was somehow unworthy and that he had played a part in a downfall that was written out for her by Other hands. More than anything it was his fear that her words were true that had spurred him into motion.

"Bitch!" he hissed, echoing and in accordance with Mike's previous proclamation, for lack of a better description. "You dare even-"

She snorted out more laughter directly into his face, her teeth now stained pinkish from the blood he had drawn forth and he raised his hand again, like a cobra waiting to strike out at it's pray. The fact that she was unable to defend herself did not even cross his furious mind.

"This is getting us no where." Sayid interrupted swiftly, carefully setting a hand onto Sawyer's shoulder to prevent him from slapping her again and Sawyer abandoned his attack, shrugging the Iraqi off irately and standing and moving to where Michael and Cindy stood.

"Yes, listen to Sayid." Nora sneered from behind him, but Sawyer shook his head, intent on ignoring her. Once more they were all playing into her hands. She was running rings around them even though she was the prisoner. She was the one tied and bound at the base of a tree. She was the one out numbered six to one. She was the one unarmed.

Kate cleared her throat then, drawing all eyes to her, including Nora's.

"How did you get here, Nora?" she asked lightly, causing Michael to give an indignant, unintelligible grunt and growl out sarcastically that 'how great it was that they were now on a first name terms!' though it went by ignored by both of the women on the other side of the camp. And, for the second time, Nora answered her straight. No mystery, no cryptic words intent on causing madness in them all. Her face lost it's sneer and smirk. Her voice lost it's disdain.

"I will show you if you'll let me up…" her smile was disarming and Kate turned to look at Locke and Sayid in question, raising her eyebrows slightly in askance. "It's all right, Katherine. I don't bite."

"She's lying!" Michael bellowed, pulling himself from Cindy's ardent grasp and marching back towards the interrogation party. "She just wants us to untie her so that she can kill us all! This is bullsht, Man! She's keeping me from finding my boy!"

Nora's face went blank, devoid of any emotion or feeling whatsoever, before she painted an innocence there that did not belong. She shrugged her shoulders in a slow, deliberate motion and shook her head almost sadly, gazing up at Michael as if she felt sorry for him. As if she empathised with his plight.

"No, Michael Dawson. I am not keeping you from Walt." she sighed, so different to her previous self that Sawyer could have sworn that she was another person altogether. "I will take you to him. I promise…if you let me up."

Warning bells went off in the back of Sawyer's mind and as he exchanged a glance with Sayid who palmed the handle of his knife, he noted, thankfully, that he was not the only one suspicious of her truthfulness.

"How do we know that you are not lying?" Eko demanded with a boom of his deep voice, thick with his African accent. "How do we know that you will not kill us all or lead us to our deaths?"

Nora beamed at him as if she was impressed by his query. As if he pleased her and she might have even applauded him if her wrists had not been bound behind her.

"Because, if I am wrong. If I have mislead you in any way…" she began, eyes shining as she turned them around the small group, stopping on each of them in turn. "…I give you permission to take my life."

Locke, where he knelt, looked over his shoulder at them and Sawyer could tell that the older man was entirely convinced by her case, much to his disgust.

"Alright, Nora…" he began.

"No, John!" Sayid interrupted, earning him a slightly annoyed glance from the hunter. "I do not think that we have discussed this thoroughly. We need to consider-"

"There is no time, Sayid." Locke returned, cutting the ex-soldier off almost in retaliation. "What happens if the Others come looking for her? Hmm? What if they're closing in on us as we speak?" he raised a thin, scarred eyebrow at the Iraqi until he glanced away to consider their captive once more.

"What happens if she leads us to them, into a trap?" he countered, though to Sawyer's ears his voice had lost most of it's conviction. He was actually considering her offer!

"I promise you," Nora interrupted, inserting herself back into their attention. "That where I am going to take you, there are no more of Us."

"What good is the word of an Other?" Mike hissed from above her where he stood tall and she glanced up at him, squinting one eye against the brightness of the rising sun above the trees.

"What did Ethan tell Jack, Michael?" she queried impatiently and when the groups silence lengthened into minutes she answered herself, raising her chin almost indignant of their mistrust. "He said that he would kill one of you every day until he got Claire back…He killed Charlie, though admittedly doctor Shephard revived him. He killed Scott, though you all constantly confuse him with Steve…" and she trailed off as Michael shook his head, still ill at ease with the idea. Kate cupped her hands around the back of her neck, resting her elbows upon her kneecaps. Sayid smoothed a hand over his beard in deep thought. Locke's own creepy smile had returned to his face. Cindy had pressed herself into Sawyer's back, fisting her hands into his shirt and burying her face between his shoulder blades. And Eko. Eko held his silver crucifix, threaded around his neck on a black shoelace, between his finger and thumb so tightly that his knuckles shone out white.

"Alright," Sayid sighed reluctantly, sending his gaze around the group and receiving nods from the majority, excluding Michael, Sawyer and Cindy who continued to hide behind the Southerner. "You will take us to Walt. Show us how you came here…but you will do so with your hands bound and if you run I shall not hesitate to shoot you. Do you understand?"

"Of course." Nora grinned in excitement or perhaps expectation. "Anything. As you wish."

-oOo-  
They had gathered their belongings together, dismantled their camp and set Kate and Cindy off on their way back towards the beach and caves before they dared to release Nora from where she was tied to the tree trunk. Sayid bound her hands behind her back once she was on her feet and, true to her word, she allowed him to, smiling her superior smile and glancing in the direction that the two woman had taken back to the other survivors, every so often with a chuckle beneath her breath.

Reluctantly almost, when they had shouldered their packs and held their guns level with her back, watching her warily, they allowed her to take the first few steps ahead of them before they began to follow Sayid, Locke and Eko right behind her, eager to stay near and find out where exactly she was leading them and Michael and Sawyer bringing up the rear, less thrilled with the idea of trusting the female Other.

"Something's wrong with this, Man." Mike hissed as he strode along at Sawyer's right shoulder. "Something doesn't feel right about all of this."

Sawyer sighed and nodded his agreement, blue eyes intent upon watching the woman's every move as she smiled and called back to Sayid to ask if she was going too fast.

"Don't trust this filly far as I could throw her." he concurred with a low growl but Michael shook his head fiercely causing Sawyer's eyes to fix on his grave face.

"It's not just that, Man." he whispered back across the small distance between them, heads bent together. "She's up to something. Why else would she be so willing to help us? Why would she be so willing to take me to Walt? I thought the Others needed him…" he trailed off in his own despair and irritation at their companions for putting them in their current situation and moved away slightly to edge his way around a tree, separating them for a split second before rejoining Sawyer on the other side. "I mean, how did she know all that stuff about us? About you and Ana? That's some crazy sht, brother."

"I ain't sure, Mickey." the blonde man sighed in resignation of his lack of answers, resting the nose of his rifle onto his shoulder while scrubbing at the back of his neck with his free hand. "But the first step outta line she makes and I ain't askin' no questions 'fore I put a cap in her ass." he glared at her back, hands clasped their together almost as if she was out strolling instead of a bound captive, and as if she had sensed his gaze she glanced over her shoulder at him, past the likes of Locke and Eko and Sayid, and offered him a sideways smirk. 

"Yeah." Michael agreed forcefully, tightening his fists about his own weapon as if doing so would prompt the Other into making a foul move and give him an excuse to shoot her dead. "You got my back, Man?" he queried suddenly, eyes never moving from their hostage. "If I got yours and the time comes?"

And Sawyer lanced a glance sideways at him, smothering a smirk before fixing his glare dead ahead.

"When the time comes." Sawyer corrected for him and Mike nodded his agreement that something was definitely about to happen. "Sure thing, Daddy Cool. I got your back. As long as you got mine, I'll keep your ass covered."

"Thanks, Man."

-oOo- 


	14. Chapter 14

Thankies for all your great reviews and for continuing to read this hugs. I'm setting things up now for the longer chapters and the big plot twist...What's that, you cry? I never mentioned any plot twist? Ooops, my bad! ;p Well, it's more of my spin on things on the island. In the next few chappies Nora is going to play a big part and that leads up to the whole plot-thingy (which is what it shall be known as hence forth) Has anyone worked out where I got her name from yet?

Anywho, hope you like.

**Chapter 14. **

"We need to do this quietly," Jack breathed, fiddling around with the combination lock upon the hatch store room. The one that had currently become the gun closet. "Keep it on the down low. We don't need to add mass hysteria to this equation."

The lock popped and Jack twisted the handle, swinging the door in on it's own hinges and revealing the dingy room to his two female companions.

They had apologized profusely to Libby, upon their arrival, for extending her shift by an extra four hours and even though Jack's feeble excuse that there had been a problem down at the beach was met with a cynical eye, she was far too exhausted to argue and discover the true reason for the lateness of her relief. She had disappeared from the hatch gladly, though the glance that she shot Ana on her way past belied her silence, revealing that she would be getting the full inquisition from the slim blonde later that day.

"Fine by me." Ana agreed with her companion's comments, bringing herself back to the present and accepting the handgun offered to her appreciatively. The cold metal slipped flawlessly into her palm as she curled and uncurled her fingers about it's width, shifting it to her preferred handhold. It was almost as if the gun had been made for her…or her hand had been shaped to always hold a gun. Which was a more accurate statement, she did not know and she decided not to dwell upon either idea slipping it into the back of her belt and concealing it with the sleeveless leather jacket that she was suddenly thankful that she had worn. "How are we going to do this? You take the caves and I do the beach?"

Jack shook his head, halfway to murmuring something about the far greater number of people residing upon the white sands, but Shannon cleared her throat, drawing their gazes about and fixing them with an irate glare.

"What? You're leaving me out?" she demanded, folding her arms tightly across her chest. "No way!" she held her hand, palm up towards Jack, demanding that she too be given a weapon and at the tall man's hesitation she made a sound of impatience deep in that back of her throat, snatching the gun that he held as his own before he could react fast enough.

Ana could see clearly that he was reluctant to bestow a firearm upon the tall blonde and not merely because she was recovering from a recent shot wound or the fact that he had made a promise to Sayid that he would keep her out of harm's way. No, there was something more lurking beneath the surface of his suddenly dark and dubious eyes as they traversed the length and breadth of Shannon's face before returning to the gun in her hand.

What had gone on to make him so reluctant to give Shannon what he had so willingly and freely given her? Surely it should have been the other way around considering…past events?

"Jack…" Shannon pleaded finally, breaking through into Ana's thoughts once more and grasping the weapon in her hands tighter. Expertly. And Ana thought it strange, amusing actually, to see such well manicured nails and smooth moisturised hands wrapped about such a deadly thing so comfortably…"I can help too." Shannon paused, checking the magazine of the handgun for ammunition and, finding it empty, held her palm out towards the hesitant doctor in another silent stipulation. "If this is about that…thing…with Locke…" she sighed finally, trailing off at his continued muteness and eventually Jack shook his head, even though it was apparent to all three of them that the young woman had just about hit the nail on the head, whatever it was that had gone on involving her and Locke, he feigned another reason for his lack of enthusiasm.

"Sayid said that you didn't know how to fire a gun, Shannon, and we don't have the time to teach-" he began but her laughter cut him off and made Ana consider her more closely than before as she brushed golden, silk-straight locks from her face.

"Sayid doesn't know everything about me, Jack." she responded, attempting to stifle her hilarity and raising a carefully shaped eyebrow at him. "I don't need to be taught and if Sayid hadn't stopped me that day, you know my aim would have been perfect…" she allowed her words to fade as her throat constricted in a hard swallow, memories evident in her amber eyes, clouding them as her mind wandered back in time as Ana's did so frequently to their 'incident' a little over a month before.

Jack tried to protest again, seeing the emotions and regret playing upon Shannon's features but Ana spoke over him. They needed to be a team. The three of them. They needed to do this thing together otherwise there was no hope at all for them and the forty-something survivors that were obliviously dependent upon them as they spoke. They needed all the help and luck that they could get and, surprising though it was, Ana was left with no doubt from the way that she had handled the weapon, that Shannon did, indeed know how to use a gun. And she was willing to bet that she knew how to use it well.

"Where did you learn?" she queried, drawing both pairs of eyes to her in mild surprise. She mimed pointing her fingers like an aimed gun. "To shoot? You hold it like you've done it before and I don't think it's just beginner's luck."

Shannon's smirk was both smug and triumphant all at once.

"And that surprises you, huh?" she teased with another light laugh at their expense, though the serious look upon Jack's brow made her return to the matter at hand swiftly. "I dated this one guy who's idea of a romantic night out was a pizza and trip down to the local firing range…I had to do something while I was there and I'm a fast learner." her golden-brown gaze turned wicked in a flash before she continued. "Plus the guy teaching me was really, really hot, but don't you dare tell Sayid that I just said that!" she warned, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper that coaxed a grin across Ana's own lips.

"Your secret's safe with me." Ana responded with a chuckle before they both turned together to consider Jack and his reaction. "Shannon's in, Jack. We need to do this together. We need to do it fast and we need to do it right."

After a stoic beat of silence and clenched jaws, the doctor nodded his assent stiffly, still not entirely comfortable with the idea but willing to go ahead with it when outnumbered two to one. Time was ticking away after all and who knew when the Others would show up…

"Fine, but you're going to explain to Sayid why exactly you are running around the jungle, barely a month after being shot yourself, with a gun in your hands." he muttered, turning his back on them to retrieve a carton of ammo for each of them.

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Whatever." Shannon replied with a combination of flippancy and impatience. "We need to hurry. I've got a funny feeling that things aren't going to stay quiet for long."

-oOo-  
Cindy was lagging behind her again, wheezing and clutching at her side as they continued to march through the trees. Kate was intent on getting back to the beach well before nightfall and back to Jack. He would know what to do. He always did. He had a way of easing her mind in times of trouble and if this wasn't one of those times, she didn't know what would warrant such a title.

Amusingly she found herself changing the words of the infamous Beatles song to fit her predicament. 'When I find myself in times of trouble, Doctor Shephard comes to me…' and had her breathing not been laboured at that moment in time, she might just have laughed out loud.

She was definitely going crazy now.

"Kate?" Cindy called, gasping for oxygen as she staggered to an unsteady halt, propping herself upright by leaning gratefully into a tree trunk. "Kate…I…I can't breathe…prop…properly."

She stopped in her tracks, resting her own hands at her aching sides and almost doubling over, but she refused to give in to the pain. They needed to get back and tell them all what was going on. What had happened. She couldn't shoulder the burden alone. The enormity of it all frightened her to no end. She had to get them both back.

"We've got to keep going, Cindy. We're nearly there." she responded, brightly, trying to keep her voice free from her own exhaustion, from illustrating that she felt exactly how Cindy looked and she moved back towards the ex-stewardess, reaching a hand towards her coaxingly. "Come on. You'll be able to have something to eat when we get there and a shower. Wouldn't you love to get all that dirt of you? I know I would." 

Cindy closed her eyes and rested her forehead onto the rough bark pausing for a long heartbeat before nodding slightly.

"…Yes." she replied, standing up straight again and Kate grinned at her, holding her palm out towards her once more and linking their similarly filthy hands together.

"Lets get a move on, then." she turned and made to continue her stride but Cindy stayed motionless, halting the slight brunette before she had even begun, causing Kate to glance back around at her. "Cindy, I thought we…" the words dried on her tongue before she even had the chance to speak them forth into the air as her own fear grabbed hold of her body so fiercely that for a moment all she could do was look into the wide brown eyes reflecting her terror as perfectly as a mirror might.

The air was alive. It thrummed and buzzed and hissed about their ears. It was electric.

Cindy's fingers suddenly curled about Kate's forearms, biting into the skin their like knives as she clawed at her in panic.

"It's them! It's them!" her voice high and loud and tremulous. "Oh god! God! They're coming!"

Kate's first instinct was to freeze the fear was so strong within her. She wanted nothing more than to crouch down to the ground and wrap her arms across her head like she had witnessed Cindy do when she and Michael had first happened across her. But staying still wasn't in her nature. Wasn't in her blood the way running was. She had been running all her life. It was what she did best. She knew how to run and if the Others thought that they could catch her, they had another thing coming!

She clenched Cindy's hand in hers fiercely and pulled her, dragging her away from the tree trunk and where she had begun sinking to the ground in resignation like Kate had wanted to.

"Move, Cindy!" she hissed over her shoulder, eyes suddenly scanning their surroundings for any signs of Them. "Cindy!" she tugged harder on the other woman's hand. "Listen to me, I'm not going to let them get you again, okay?" she glanced briefly from the corner of her eyes to see her nod, albeit still consumed with trepidation. "But you have to promise me one thing. You have to promise me that you'll keep running, no matter what. You got it?"

Cindy's head nodded again, more vigorously than before in sharp jerks not unlike her stilted, gasping breathing, sending her matted dark blonde hair shuddering about her pale face.

"I got it." she murmured back and barely before she had finished her sentence, Kate was leading her, pulling her, heaving her forwards, out into the jungle. Out towards Them.

-oOo- 

"So…how are we going to get them all to go to the hatch?" Shannon queried from where she was scouting through the brush and scrub of the jungle a few paces to Ana's left. Jack's head periscoped up, further to the left again, revealing his slight annoyance as Shannon's running commentary continued through their task of scouring for evidence from the previous night.

Ana had told them both, numerous times that the whole thing was pointless. They didn't leave tracks and she doubted very greatly the phantom Sawyer and Walt that she and Shannon had seen did either. There was actually no point in them being out there, but Jack, ever the conscientious leader, wanted to make doubly sure. Wanted to inspect the area for himself.

"I think we should tell them the truth." Ana piped before Jack could make a remark and both of the fuselage survivors glanced at her, keeping their guns raised just in case something decided to spring out of the bushes at them. Ana however, kept her gun holstered. She knew they weren't going to find anything and she knew that it the Others were going to come, she'd hear them long before they arrived.

"That's not going to work." Jack mused, turning his gaze back to the ground before him as he shifted the shrub branches out of the way with his elbow. "We told them that the last time, when Danielle, the French woman I told you about, came to us claiming that the Others were coming and that we should all hide." he paused, standing straight from his hunched inspection and pressed his free hand to the no doubt aching small of his back. "That was a false alarm. They're not going to believe us this time."

Shannon hummed to herself, picking her way past a thorny bush carefully. "We could, like, tell them that monsoon season is on the way." she responded absently, toeing a rotting branch from her path before sending a glance over her shoulder to Ana to see what she thought of the notion. "I can totally guarantee that if you give them the choice of sitting out in the rain or sitting together in the hatch, they will definitely pick the drier option." she grinned, pausing in both her motions and her speech to brush dirt from the shoulder of her cardigan. That small task accomplished she smiled over at the doctor who was shaking his head dubiously. "Sell it too them as if it's a holiday!" she breathed, enthralled with the idea now. "Make it sound like there are only a few places down there left available and that they are gonna be snapped up soon," she clicked the fingers of her free hand to emphasis her point. "If they don't move their asses." her final glance that shifted between the two of them bordered on the triumphant-ness she demonstrated in the hatch.

And yet Jack's frown was still unconvinced as he returned to hunting through the jungle like a tiger searching for it's prey…No, not a tiger, Ana corrected herself with a secretive smirk. There was only one man in her life worthy of being likened to a tiger and that tiger came from Tennessee. Jack was more like a panther…or a jaguar. Maybe even a leopard if he was lucky.

"Do you really think they're going to fall for that, Shannon?" he demanded drawing Ana from her somewhat ridiculous contemplations that were no doubt the product of too little sleep, and as the younger woman shrugged, looking dangerously like she was about to fall into 'silent treatment mode' it spurred Ana to her defence.

"You got a better idea, Doc?" she growled out suddenly, stalking forwards and past him, hoping that if she moved faster it would spur him on and get the ridiculous search-party over and done with quicker.

Jack remained silent for several long minutes, allowing his two female companions, who suddenly seemed to have formed a bond, who had risen up together to stand against and contest his every word, to pull ahead of him as he watched them, Ana especially. She could feel his gaze scoring into the back of her head as she moved until she spun finally and mutely asked him with a shrug and raised eyebrows, what exactly his problem was.

He shrugged too, frowning down at the ground once more as he caught up to them reluctantly.

"Claire was right," he grumbled. "Sawyer _is_ rubbing off on you."

And Ana would have laughed out loud had she not been cut off by a desperate, horrific scream behind them. A screamed name as if someone were being murdered.

They spun in synchronicity to the sound, the direction from which it came and Ana had to force her hand not to fly automatically to her new gun. The Others made no sound like that. It wasn't them…yet.

"Jack!"

It came again, coherent that time and nearer, accompanied by the sound of thrashing through the undergrowth. Of one, no two pairs of feet. What the hell?

Suddenly Jack lunged forwards like a greyhound released from it's pen at the start of the race, muscles uncoiling from where they had been bunched and knotted in tension. He was away, beating his way through the trees before Ana-Lucia or Shannon even knew what was happening and it was only when he called out in reply to the scream that the same fear seized Ana's frame like a vice.

"Kate!"

The two figures, lurching as they ran, broke through the trees to their right, almost missing them entirely and indeed they would have had Jack not called out the terrified woman's name again.

The brunette traversed mid-pelt, dragging someone behind her relentlessly, only stopping when she thudded into Jack's chest, nearly winding him and drawing an "ooff" from his lips as she wound her arms about him like it was the last thing she would ever do.

"Kate? What's happened? What the hell are you-" Jack began, voice returning to it's previous calm, doctorly, professionalism. He was always the same. Had the innate ability to want to placate every situation, even if that task were impossible.

Ana, however, had never been that patient and the shock reappearance of the woman who had taken her place upon the hunting party, her mind was no where near rational enough to wait for her to calm down.

"Where's Sawyer?" she couldn't help that fact that the pitch and volume and harshness of her voice rose steadily, sounding a lot like anger when it was in fact concern and even panic. She felt it clawing at her throat, threatening to overwhelm her. "Where's the rest of-"

Kate raised her hand to halt Ana's speech, doubling over as she caught her breath. Why had she been running? What from? And who was the other person with her?

Ana turned as instantly as the thought had crossed her mind, feeling the shock tingle through her already shot to hell nerves, erasing her fear, even if it was only for the split second that it took for her to force her mouth to stutter out the person's name.

"Cindy!"

The wheezing Australian glanced up through short, bedraggled bangs of mousy brown hair, her eyes wide and strangely confused. She moved further away from Ana and grabbed onto Kate's arm as if she feared Ana. As if Kate was her protector. As if Kate had been the one who had kept her alive for those 48 days back on the other side of the island.

"I-I-I-" she stuttered as Ana took a step towards her, hand extended and Kate shook her head, glancing up for the first. Emerald eyes, shining with tears and the last remains of alarm, locked onto dark brown, filled with concern and confusion.

"She…she doesn't…remember any…anything after the…crash." she managed to gasp out in between deep inhalations and Shannon and Jack shared a meaningful glance, telling Ana that they knew something that she didn't.

"Like Claire?" Shannon queried of the fatigued woman who clutched her side and winced at the pain there before nodding in confirmation.

"Yeah, like Claire…but that's not even half of the problem." she straightened finally and offered Cindy a reassuring smile and nod before allowing Jack to pull her into a tight embrace of relief and concern. A relief that Ana could not share while Sawyer remained out there somewhere and Kate was not proving very willing to give them answers at that moment. But, she allowed begrudgingly, the woman did look as if she had run non-stop all night and with a definitely terrified Cindy in tow that obviously hadn't been an easy feat.

"We can't talk here," Ana stated, swallowing her disquiet and her desire to bombard Kate with questions and demands for explanation. Her eyes, however, made one last hopeful sweep of their surroundings as if she expected him to saunter out and up to her with his cocky smirk and southern drawl…

…But he didn't and she ignored Jack's sympathetic glance as they began moving towards the hatch again and, to Ana's surprise, Shannon linked her arm through hers in a combination of support, understanding and the younger woman's own fear at the absence of Sayid, seeking reassurance of her own.

"They're okay, aren't they, Ana?" she whispered, tightening her grip at Ana's elbow. "Kate didn't say that they weren't…so…that's good? Right?" the desperate desire for assurance that made her usually smooth voice suddenly tremulous only served to highlight the rawness of Ana-Lucia's own emotions and even though she desperately wanted to brush the uncertainty aside, to tell her that 'sure, everything was fine. Sawyer was probably being his usual pain-in-the-ass self and Sayid was having to put up with him' and believe it herself, she knew that she couldn't. It wasn't fair on either of them if she did.

Shannon knew it deep in her heart too, nodding as Ana took a deep breath and instead of spouting false-hope replied "We'll find out soon."

-oOo- 

By the time that Kate had finished recounting the events of the past day and night, the sun had already reached it's zenith and had begun it's slow decent back down into night.

A whole day. A day that should have been used to move the scores of people living on the beach to the safety of the hatch. That should have been used to decide how they were going to combat this Other threat that they had been warned of through visions and the attempt to take Kate and Cindy.

She had thought many times during the past hour, as she sat on the sand outside their shelter watching the sun fall from it's perch in slow motion, that perhaps she was just going mad. What it was all just madness? Insanity on her part? But Kate's description of the Other woman that they had seemingly captured, of what Nora Hewmot had said, about Ana herself in particular, and the threat as the two woman had returned to the survivor habitat only served to increase her belief that They were coming even more.

And now they had even less time to prepare themselves for it.

She had argued, following Kate's story, that they needed to start moving everyone immediately. Screw telling them it was because of an oncoming monsoon season. They needed to know that their lives were in danger and they needed to know now.

But, ever the pragmatic one, Jack had replied that to begin with they needed to take care of Cindy and she had agreed with that first notion. Then he had continued. They needed to try and find out what she had been through. He needed to examine her and if they could get Libby to use her psychological expertise to try and glean what exactly the Others had done to her, all the better. Perhaps then, once all of the evidence had been collated, they would have a better idea of what they were up against.

Jack was diving wholeheartedly into one single aspect of their situation. Burying his head, her Tia Lila would have called it, but he saw it only as prioritising.

"We need to think rationally, Ana. We stick to the plan. There is no need to panic anyone…and it might be best if you get some rest. You haven't had more than four hours sleep since Sawyer left and if, come tomorrow morning, you are right about all of this, you'll be recharged and at your best."

She sighed, shielding her eyes from the afternoon sun as she continued to stare out at the waves.

Perhaps Jack had sensed her anxiousness that Sawyer was still out there following one of the enemy no less into what could very well be a trap. Perhaps he really did want her to be on top form when the Others came, and they were coming. She knew that they were coming. They were probably watching her right now as she sat on the sand…biding their time…

Shannon had returned to her own shelter following Jack's advice that she too rest and suddenly all of their combined fire, their desperation to keep people safe had fizzled out into nothing-ness just as swiftly as it had begun.

"Umm…" the voice from behind her was unsure. Not nervous, per se, but most definitely reluctant in it's enquiry.

Ana turned to glance over her shoulder at the slight figure of Kate, still looking exhausted and covered with bits of jungle, tired in her eyes from the ordeal with Cindy and Nora and the flight back to safety. 

"I don't want any trouble," she admitted, her exhaustion winning out over any hesitation that she held towards speaking with Ana-Lucia. "Sawyer…he asked me to give you this." she held a book out towards her in one hand and stepped forwards tentatively, eyes flickering about them before focusing finally upon the book cover as if it was her lifeline and keeping her from looking up at Ana. "He said it was important."

Ana looked up at Kate's offering.

Watership Down.

How come, she wondered, that that book had suddenly become her Bible? The thing she turned to in her hour of need? Was it because it was the thing that had drawn her and Sawyer together as they had concurred that Jack was the 'Threarah'? She had turfed the shelter upside-down and inside-out the previous day searching for it until it's lack of appearance had caused her to assume that she had carelessly left it somewhere and one of the other survivors had taken it for themselves. Finders keepers, didn't the saying go?

"Thanks," Ana replied, clearing her throat in surprise at both Kate's willingness to help her and Sawyer's apparent desire that the book be sent back to her. Did he really know her so well that he recognized that it meant so much to her?

She reached out a hand to receive the book, smoothing her other over the cover as if drawing comfort from it. From the fact that Sawyer had sent it back. Had wanted her to have it. That not a day ago he had been holding it in his hands.

"Thanks," she repeated her murmured response as she studied it. "I thought I'd lost it."

Kate watched her face from where she stood slightly awkwardly, looking down as she witnessed the emotions flash fast, fleeting and unbridled across Ana-Lucia's features and she knew, instinctively, that Sawyer's feelings for the Latino woman, recent thought they were and still in the early stages of developing into something more, were reciprocated wholeheartedly, even if the pair of them had parted on less than pleasant terms from what the island hearsay had said.

"No problem," Kate responded, though Ana seemed not to be aware that she was present any longer, and not merely out of the lack of camaraderie between the pair of them. "He did it for you, you know." she announced breaking the lengthy pause suddenly, wincing as she heard her own words, pouring forth of their own accord and at the anticipation of Ana's hostility that would no doubt be renewed towards her for prying.

But the harsh retort that she expected did not come. Instead her one-time adversary glanced up at her again, dark eyes sweeping up from the book in her lap. No anger there, none of the wariness that they had always seemed to consider each other with prior to the events of the past few days. What had changed between them in such a short space of time was unfathomable.

"Did what?" she queried and Kate found herself stepping forwards once more, slipping down to sit on the sand beside her, arms curling atop her knees as she sent her glance out over the sea, where Ana-Lucia had been steadily staring before in deep contemplation.

"Stopped you from going on the rescue party." she illuminated, resting her chin upon her folded arms and Ana responded with a somewhat humourless laugh that spurred Kate's speech onwards. She had started and she needed to finish what she was saying. And curious though it was, she suddenly wanted to ease the suffering of the woman who she had so guiltlessly fought with a number of weeks ago. Perhaps it was a belated apology for the lies that she had told Sawyer in an attempt to scupper their early friendship. Perhaps it was penance but she did not doubt that it was something that she truly wanted to do. "He wanted me to go because I'm expendable to him, Ana." she stated fiercely in retort to the other woman's dubious laughter that had questioned the truthfulness of Kate's statement. Her green eyes flashed from her face in the deepening dusk. "You aren't."

And, strangely enough, Ana believed her. Whether that was because of the brown haired woman's ferocity or the look of regret mixed with an acceptance that had never been there before upon her face, Ana didn't know.

Guilt surged without warning. Regret of the events that had lead up to and initiated the fight that they had both participated in weeks ago but Ana was too proud to say it, as was Kate judging from the hard look returning to make jade eyes steely once more and they nodded simultaneously, understanding flowing between them, even if friendship did not.

"I was wrong back then." Kate stated, turning her gaze back out to the seascape as she heaved herself to her feet, her knees cracking in protest, no doubt aching after her mad dash through the wilderness.

"Yeah, I guess we both were." Ana responded, knowing automatically what she had been referring to. "We all make mistakes."

"We do." Kate agreed, turning to leave. "Even southern boys who are too proud to tell people how they really feel when they have the chance and instead write them down in letters when they get scared that they'll never be able to tell them." and she fell silent save for the crunching of her feet against the sand as she left Ana alone, words hanging in her wake.

-oOo-  
After the meaning of Kate's words had settled over her jumbled mind, Ana had set to scouring through the pages of Watership Down for some message from Sawyer to her. Some note or letter or passing comment in general. She didn't care at that point which and in the beginning she found nothing. Not a single word besides what she had written in there and what had already been scribbled there by him prior to her notes.

Then, just as she was about to scowl and curse Kate for getting her hopes up and toss the book to the sand beside her, a flash of scribbled blue handwriting on the very back inside cover caught her eye.

And there it was. As Kate had suggested.

-oOo-_  
'Dear Hotlips,'_ she read, smile curling up the feature that he had just described.

_'Sorry about leavin' you so long on your own and sorry that I ain't there to give you this in person. Just pretend that little old Freckles there is Your's Truly…'_ that suggestion made her click her tongue in disapproval but Sawyer continued and redeemed himself. _'…On second thoughts, Chica, best not. I'm sure the Good Doc has enough on his plate without you deckin' his girl again with that right hook I knows got my name on it.' she had to resist the urge to tell that paper how damn right it was. 'I ain't stupid, Sugar.'_ she couldn't stop herself from snorting that time. _'Not by a long shot, though you may think it sometimes, and I know you got a right to be mad at me for that little stunt I went an' pulled on you. God bless Hurley, the Patron Saint of Damsels in Distress for comin' to your rescue, huh? Though you ain't much of one to be rescued…and you ain't much of a damsel either.'_ that little slight she decided to graciously overlook.

_'I ain't goin' to apologize for it, mind. I may have done wrong by you, but I did what was right by me. I mean, there weren't a cat's chance in hell you were gonna let me take care of you, now was there? I know you well enough, Chica, to know that you weren't goin' to let me protect you and at least this way (though I missed out on one hell of a good night by gettin' you pissed at me) you're safe back there and I'm gettin' to do my job of keepin' you that way, out here.'_ Men and their ego's, she mused to herself, rolling her eyes before resuming her study.

_'Hark at me, Hotstuff! Gettin' soft in my old age…or maybe I'm just gettin' attached to you. Who'd have thunk it? The man with no heart? The Con? The Player? (You gettin' the picture, Puddin'?) Can't have you goin' an' dyin' on me, now can I? I'd be back to obligatory chastity square one.'_ she laughed aloud at that one. Obligatory chastity her ass!

_'I ain't one for fancy words, Sugar, you know that, and I ain't big on showin' my feelin's either, but maybe this is the last chance I'll get to tell you. Hell, it's a darn sight easier than doin' this face to face…At least you can't smack me one if you don't like what I'm fixin' to say.' _cautious now, she read on. What was he 'fixin' to say'? He'd skirted around something for the past three paragraphs, something that he obviously wanted to tell her and so she continued, eyes devouring the page as if it were the final thing that she would do in her lifetime. And she was astounded by what she found. Well, she was more astounded by the fact that he was admitting it to her, but it took her several moments of reading and rereading the final paragraph for it to actually sink in through her muddled mind.

_'All for you, Darlin'. All of it. Never did nothin' for nobody but myself in my whole damn life except for now. Except for you. And even though I'm crazy for sayin' this (maybe I caught too much sun. Maybe I drank too much seawater when our damn raft got smoked by "Them" or maybe it's just that you hit me on the head one too many times) I wanted you to know, I think I might just have found someone I love more than myself.'_

She had expected him to finish the letter with one of the wise-cracks or a witty one-liners that she had come to expect from him, but quite surprisingly he instead ended with a simple and yet suddenly more significant _'Always Yours,'_ before signing his name.

Not Sawyer though. She had always known that 'Sawyer' hadn't been his real name, but he had never told her what it was and she had never pushed it, though her constant nicknames for him proved her discomfort at using the very name that her father had adopted the day he had left her Mama.

No, he signed in neatly joined cursive, not flamboyant the way she had expected his signature to be, his true name. The lettering flowing as if it was some how a relief for him to final get it out in some way. A relief for him to actually tell her who he really was.

_ 'James Ford.'_

-oOo- 


	15. Chapter 15 part 1

Just a baby update for now. I had..._tribulations_, shall we say, at work today and so I wasn't able to finish as much of this chapter as I wanted to. But I still wanted to keep my new rhythm of posting continuous.

**Chapter 15 (part 1).**

Evening was drawing close by the time that Nora stopped in her tracks in the very middle of the jungle. So abruptly did her movements cease that even Locke paused in surprise, watching her closely for any early signs of betrayal or trick.

Sawyer peered over their heads at the Other who stood stock still and motionless, rooted to the spot and he raised the muzzle of his rifle, training it upon her back…just in case.

"Why we gone an' stopped, Pocahontas?" he called to her, shooting a wary glance to one side at Michael who also clenched his weapon a little tighter in anticipation.

Nora's head turned slowly, minutely so until they could all witness the unsettling smile hovering upon her vacant features. A smile that suddenly made icy concerns settle deep in Sawyer's belly as she completed her rotation and stood facing them all fully.

"We have stopped, James," she responded glibly, tossing stiff clumps of her short blonde hair from her filthy face with a deft flick of her head. "Because we are here." she beamed wider, the corners of her eyes creasing in delight. "But first," she paced back towards them and Sawyer's grip upon his weapon intensified, making her laugh beneath her breath as she stopped before Sayid in particular. Her eyes left Sawyer's and glimmered instead up at the dark brown watch of the Iraqi as if drawn there magnetically. She wanted something and she knew that the only way that she was going to get that something was if she persuaded Sayid. "Before I take you any further, you need to untie me and I need to climb that tree." she indicated the larger of the trees surrounding them with a languid nod of her head in it's direction, as if she were greeting an old friend and perhaps she was. She knew the area so well that she strode through without taking her eyes of the sky. As if she were daydreaming or stargazing and her feet automatically found the right places to step, avoiding thorns and protruding roots that were intent on tripping up the small troupe following her even though their eyes were glued to the ground.

She giggled suddenly at their stunned silence and questioning stares at their current surrounding and she shrugged as best as she could with her arms secured mercilessly behind her back.

"I need to make sure of something before I take you down."

All five heads snapped in her direction at that blasé revelation.

"Down?" Eko repeated and Nora nodded, eyebrows raised as she feigned nonchalance. As if she were unaware of the ripples of shock that she had caused throughout the ranks.

"Yes." she responded, motionless save for the barely there movement of her lips. "Down. But I need to climb that tree first."

Sayid was already shaking his head, the first to recover from the stunned haze that had overcome them.

"I am not going to untie you." he stated, raising his chin slightly so that he had to glance down his nose to view the Other. "Why do you need to climb that tree so badly?"

Nora sniffed and about-faced flashing them a grin over her shoulder as she paced towards the thick tree trunk and placed her cheek against the rough bark there.

"I need to check something." she repeated stubbornly and the glee shone brightly and unmistakable in her dark eyes as she noted the growing impatience and irritation upon all of their faces. She studied them each in turn for long minutes. Sayid with his hands fisted at his hips, defiant of her request. Eko tightening a fist about his handmade club strung to his belt. Michael and Sawyer with their rifles raised, her in their crosshairs. And finally she stopped upon Locke, moving back and cocking her head to one side as the bald man watched her.

"What do you need to check? Tell me and I will do it for you." Sayid demanded, breaking the silence once more but Nora refused to remove her stare from Locke's face.

"You don't know what to look for." she retorted, another flick of her head serving to spin her about again and turn her back to the tree in question. She tilted her head back and stared up until it's branches met and mingled with the evening sky. "I'm not taking you any further until I have climbed this tree."

Michael nudged Sawyer with his elbow, drawing the blonde man's gaze over to him.

"She's mad!" he murmured, shaking his head. "We're being led on a wild goose chase by a damn mad woman!" he started forwards, hands balling into fists around his firearm, no doubt intent upon knocking some sense into the crazy female Other that they were perhaps foolishly trusting, but Sawyer caught his elbow and shook his head.

"I'd like nothin' more than to do exactly what you want to do, Mike. Hell, I'd pay good money to tan her lyin' hide…but like Captain Falafel said, it ain't gonna get us anywhere." Sawyer told him in a low tone, too low for the other members of their entourage to hear…and yet not too low for Nora to hear, it seemed.

"I promised that you could take my life if I double-crossed you." Nora called over Locke's shoulder, directly to Michael. "You want me to take you to Walt, right? Michael?"

He clenched his jaw so tightly together that Sawyer could see the veins pulsing in his temple and throat. Anger descended across his compatriot's face like a sheer veil, only barely contained behind his dark, flaming irises. His muscles coiled like a spring waiting to be released and Sawyer's hand wavered upon reaching out to grab the man's arm again, for fear that he was about to lunge at the woman and tear her to pieces like his furious features betrayed that he wanted to.

Eventually, however, Mike's shoulders lowered, the tension receding though not completely disappearing altogether. And he turned his back on her, twisting his head away from the group so that he could spit onto the ground a mixture of saliva and blood from where he had apparently been biting his tongue to keep himself restrained.

"Set her loose, Sayid." he growled after a breathless moment that they spent warily watching his taut, red T-shirt clad back. "And tell her to hurry the fck up before I shoot her anyway, Man."

-oOo-  
She listened to their stiff, uneasy chatter below her as she pulled herself higher up into the branches of the tree. She knew where to place her hands, she knew where the best footholds were, worn smooth by so much usage from her and the rest of the 'Others' as those men below her had dubbed them graciously.

She smirked wider, heaving herself up again and closer to the very top, the pinnacle of the botanical giant that had served as their look out for so many years that she could not remember.

Goodwin would have remembered though. And Ethan. And even Thea probably.

All three of them had died bravely. All of their deaths had been in the pursuit of their goals. And now it looked likely that she was getting her chance. It was her turn to step up and succeed where the likes of Goodwin and Ethan and Thea had failed.

Oh, she had no doubt in her mind that she would die when she had served her purpose and led the crash survivors of flight 815 to where they wanted to go. She had no doubt that they would end her life when they knew fully why she was taking them there with no qualms.

And yet, it was her only mission. Her life was expendable and she had known that from the very beginning. From the very moment that she had stepped forwards and stated that she would be the one who released Cindy and shepherded her so that these men, their little 'Hunting Party' would find her. She would be the one who made sure that both Kate and Cindy would go back to the other survivors, the unsuspecting community who believed that they were safe where they had built their homes upon the beach and in the caves. And she would be the one who would lead the men, intent on rescue and heroics, to exactly where they wanted to go…keeping them out of the way. Keeping them from going back, otherwise it wouldn't work.

She released a grunt as she hefted herself finally through the leaves and she stood, clutching to the now remarkably thinner trunk as she shaded her eyes with a hand from the fiery, bloody red glare of the dieing sun.

It shouldn't be long before they started it…

And there, almost triggered by her thoughts, the plumes of thick, black, impenetrable smoke curled and scudded into the warning stained sky to the left of where the survivors lived. And after three, four, five heartbeats another column of darkness rose to the right, telling her that it was time to move. That the plan was finally in motion and that she didn't have to keep leading them in circles anymore.

She could take them straight there now.

It was time.

-oOo- 


	16. Chapter 15 part 2

Sorry I made you wait so long for the second part of this chappie, but I got my internet rights revoked by the folks. Yup, I'm 21 and yet I still get punished...well, I was sort of naughty. XP

Anywho, less about my family life. I hope you enjoy the second part. Some more Sawyer and the group and some Ana too. Things are starting to heat up on the beach again. I'm really looking forwards to penning chapter 16 and 17 even though I haven't decided if it's going to be Sawyer centric or Ana centric first.

Well, I let you read on. Thankies you all for reading and reviewing the last chapter. Sorry 'bout that cliffhanger. I won't do it again...promise 

**Chapter 15 (part 2)**

The thick thud upon the ground from her landing startled them all from their now silence and private contemplations.

She smiled brightly at them, brushing herself down, free from leaves and twigs before she stepped towards Sayid and held her wrists out, beckoning for him to retie her bonds.

She was far too willing and it triggered warning bells in Sawyer's mind.

"If it is not objectionable to you, Sayid Jarrah, I would please like for you to bind my hands before me instead of behind my back." she said dreamily, eyes absently trailing a pale-winged insect as it fluttered between them like a leaf caught in the wind. "I need to be able to use my hands a little to get down and inside, but I know that it is preferable to you that I remain restrained in some fashion."

-oOo-  
Raised voices were the thing that drew Ana from her contemplations as she sat, sleep eluding her, on the sand and reread over Sawyer's letter to her again. She couldn't hear exactly what was being said no matter how hard she strained over the crashing waves but she knew the note of fear in the chorus of voices only too well. She could hear the hint of panic as it began to take over them, fluting through the breeze and she glanced over her shoulder, in the direction of the noise, already on the alert for whatever had caused the sudden gathering of people.

Then, as she pushed herself to her feet, feeling the coldness of concern settle in the pit of her stomach, she watched as the large assembly, the congregation of people huddled together, eyes wide and shoulders hunched against any and all outside of their mish-mashed circle, clutching other's arms or hands or shoulders for comfort and protection…and pointing to the sky above the jungle canopy inland.

Ana felt her mouth run dry as her steps quickened. She felt her heartbeat kick up several notches until she could almost feel the same panic that consumed the other survivors clawing it's way up her own throat, bitter and metallic. Almost the same taste as fear and yet not quite. The panic was wilder. Sharper, filling every part of her body and limbs until all she wanted was to turn and run. Run away from it all.

But she couldn't. She wouldn't and she breathed deeply, letting the concoction of panic and fear wash over her entirely until she released it with that lungful of salty sea air that she had just taken, imagining that if she had been able to see it, if such feelings had been visible, she would have seen it at that moment curling and twisting like a green mist through the hot evening air.

But she couldn't see it and that was when the adrenalin kicked in. A new feeling and taste entirely, consuming her as she continued forwards from where she had ground to a halt, across the last remaining stretch of sand towards the group.

Determination. The pure tang of conviction as she swallowed and clenched her tongue between her back teeth, allowing herself another great inhalation to cement those new feelings into their proper places. It was a ritual she'd had back when she'd been a police officer and it was proving invaluable to her now as she strolled through the bowels and innards of hell itself.

And the black smoke, thick and solid-seeming, continued it's ascent into prominence through the evening sky. Billowing and swirling with menace, highlighted blood red against the pitch. Glowering. Betraying what exactly was coming their way. Warning them. Penning them into a corner like animals. Like lambs to the slaughter.

Ana-Lucia's previous self, back in reality, had never been one to get cornered. She had never liked it and so had never allowed it and she cursed herself now for allowing Jack to talk her out of her mission to move people down into the safety of the hatch immediately. She should have gone ahead and done it anyway without him because, to put it bluntly, when it came to the safety of the group, to defending them from the Others that were now proven to be coming, Ana out ranked the doctor. She knew first hand what they were capable of and she knew what needed to be done in order to stop them.

"Shannon!" she called, jaw set as she breached the ring of bodies, shouldering her way through to the blonde who stood arms wrapped about herself at the very heart of the gathering. "It's-"

"Them." Shannon finished almost sadly, nodding her head as Ana stopped before her. "We should have started moving everyone like you said. And now They're coming and who knows what they'll do to us!"

The beginnings of tears shone in the young woman's eyes but not tears for herself, Ana noted. Tears for them all. Tears for the people that Shannon believed that she had failed and sentenced to a fate at the hands of the…creatures stalking them.

But Ana was not so resigned yet. Back in the real world, a lifetime ago, another trait that had kept her alive was her tenacity. She had thrived under pressure. That was when she was at her very best. When the world was breathing down her neck hard, she turned around and socked it one in return.

Ana-Lucia was not down and she most definitely was not out.

"I need you to start moving people in groups." Ana stated, reaching behind her to retrieve her gun and checking that the chamber was loaded, drawing nervous stares from the group surrounding them. She ignored them, however, locking her dark eyes with Shannon's of gold. "We need to get them moving now and at regular intervals. As fast as we can. Leave everything where it is. Don't even stop to take your clothes. Just yourselves." her voice had risen half way through her speech until she was addressing them all, turning in a slow circle to peer out at their worried faces. She didn't even care that at that moment the fear was aimed mostly at her as she stood, gun in hand. They'd be thanking her later…if they all survived. "We'll do five groups of ten. Anything you can use for a weapon to defend yourselves, get it. And keep it close. Keep a check on everyone in your group, keep checking that no one has been taken-"

"What if they are taken!" someone, a man she vaguely knew as Scott…or was that Steve, called out starting a panicked murmur around the ensemble like the hum of angry bees. "What if we all get taken…or worse! Killed!"

Ana took another of her statutory deep breaths and re-holstered her weapon at her belt, then raised her hands in a placating gesture. A calming and comforting motion that was used universally by all police forces to diffuse a potentially hazardous situation.

"I'm not gonna let that happen." she called louder over their thrumming noise but someone else, a woman this time, shouted louder still.

"What about last time?" she demanded, hands fisted at her hips. "It was all a hoax by that crazy French jungle woman. What if it's like that again?"

Then the arguing began. Was it for real? Was it another elaborate ploy to get Claire's baby? And the louder they got the more time they wasted standing on the beach as night drew closer.

Ana gritted her teeth and glanced to the sky again, noting that there was now a second column of smoke towering over them oppressively, the blackness writhing and pluming and choking away their sky and chances of survival.

She didn't have time for their petty bullsht bickering! None of them did if they wanted to live.

The gun was back in her palm before anyone had even glanced her way and she aimed it to the sky, above their heads into the depths of the darkness their and she squeezed the trigger hard.

The sound, loud and abrasive, ricocheted across the beach for long moments, serving it's purpose by silencing them all in one and recapturing their waning attention. All that could be heard for several breathless heartbeats was the roar of the sea and the whistle of the wind as they considered her finally.

"You feel confident enough to stake your lives on this all being a trick, by all means be my guest and stick around and find out." Ana chuckled bitterly and the woman who had turned the debate into a sour battle of wills glanced away to the ground. "I'd rather be holed up in the hatch for no reason than holed up with bullets and knife wounds."

Terror rippled around her now, shining from the whites of their eyes and Ana sighed. Okay, maybe shock tactics were a little too much for them to cope with at that instant.

"All I'm saying is," she began softer than before, reversing her strategy and placating them again with her hand movements. "I want to make sure. You all want to be safe, right?"

They murmured their agreement and Ana almost heaved a sigh of relief. She would have but they weren't out of the woods just yet. Nothing about their current situation warranted relief in the slightest.

"Okay. I need someone to go to the hatch and warn Jack." she glanced around at them all again, eyebrows raised hopefully. "Anyone?"

Shannon looked about to step forwards and volunteer for the run but before she could speak and before Ana had to turn her down because of her asthma, Charlie of all people raised his hand and pushed his way to stand in front of her.

"You fast?" Ana raised her jet eyebrows at him in inquiry and the Brit shrugged, pulling his hood down so that she could see his face clearly, thrusting his hands deep into his pockets.

"I won the regional cross-country three years in a row back home in Manchester when I was in secondary school…" he shrugged again as if it was no big deal and Ana nodded her approval.

"That'll do." she nodded again, offering her handgun to him butt first, waiting for him to remove his hands from his hoody pockets and take it in his graps. "I know you can shoot." she spoke at his hesitance to take the weapon and answering his unvoiced protestation. "I know you killed one of Them so take it."

But Charlie shook his head. Apparently that had not been the topic of his objection.

"What about you, Ana?"

And it was her turn to shrug, nonchalantly.

"I'll live." she responded and all who gathered about her knew that her words were full of conviction. So much conviction that they felt hope finally that things were going to be alright. She was going to be the one to save them. "Now move it! And tell Jack he needs to hurry! We'll meet him with the first group half way."

-oOo-  
They stared down at it, not quite believing what it was that she was showing to them. Puzzlement. Confusion and just plain astonishment played across the collection of faces peering down into it's depths.

All except Locke's.

"I've seen this before…" he mused, arms half folded while one hand rested against his lips as he considered it. "The security system almost pulled me down into one exactly like this," he paused again, a brief flash of bitterness lancing across his face. "But Jack prevented it."

Nora, hands rebound before her, drummed her fingertips together and grinned about at their confused faces, smugly. Ecstatic that she had perplexed them so badly. Her teeth flashed white from her filthy face.

"Yes, that it quite a plausible outcome." she confirmed of Locke's announcement, pacing around them all like a shark circling it's quarry. "See, the security system runs the length and breadth of this island." she continued, excited again, elbows flapping in illustration. "In every single sector it is fine. In perfect operational order. But the…incident," she paused again, eyes dulling ever so briefly before she looked around at their expectant stares once again. "It left the security system in the Swan sector…with a fault."

"What fault?" Sayid demanded with a rough bark from where he knelt inspecting the pitch black hole, fingers skirting the rim and finding it seamless.

And Nora tossed dirty blonde locks from her face with a swift jerk of her head before deigning to reply to him.

"Every one hundred and eight minutes it resets itself, switching from the usual defensive mode, to attack mode." she responded as if the subject was entirely obvious and bored her. "That is unless someone inputs the code and executes command four eight one five one six two three four two before the timer runs it's course." she snorted then, beaming once more and turning on her heel and circling the group counter-clockwise. "You can't very well have a security system going around and eliminating every potential test subject, now can we?" and something dark flickered in the depths of her eyes, narrowed and watching them predatorily, something that served to remind them all that she was one of Them. The Others who had taken and killed people, not some sunny and cheerful tour guide.

"What about the pilot?" Sawyer questioned suddenly from where he was leaning against the nearest tree. "Boy got his ass sliced up like he went ten round with Freddy Krueger from what Kid-Rock told it like."

Nora shot him a look that made him feel like a simpleton. She tutted, clicking her tongue against her back teeth in a way that was so familiar, so much like Ana that Sawyer felt his chest constrict almost painfully and she laughed at him, at his shocked features.

"A defence system is there to defend, James." she lectured, shaking her head. Condescension dripped from her tone. "It obviously perceived your pilot friend as a threat then, didn't it?"

"He was bleeding to death, for Christ's sakes, Man!" Michael shouted in frustration, several steps apart from the group with his back to them all, glaring out into the darkening gloom of jungle night. "How is a dieing man a threat?"

And Nora laughed again, louder until it echoed around the area, encasing them all, cutting them off from what little of reality still remained.

"Perhaps you should ask the security system that question, Michael." she giggled and it was all Sawyer could do to move from his place and hold Michael back, prevent him from lunging for Nora's throat and ripping it clean out with his bare hands.

"Easy, Mikey." Sawyer hissed through teeth clench with exertion. "Reign it in, Brother. She's takin' you to your boy, remember? She's just tryin' to wind you up."

"Yeah? She's doin' a damn good job of it!" Michael snarled back but he eventually calmed himself, shirking Sawyer's restriction away and turning his back to them all again. Cutting himself off from them. Alone in his grief and rage and conflict.

"Right!" Nora stopped dead in her tracks suddenly, sounding as if she were about to offer them all refreshments. "Shall I take you in then?" her eyebrows quirked in query. "Or if you would prefer to take the fresh evening air as we travel then I suggest the scenic route. It will only add a mere two days to our little excursion…"

"We go down." Sayid countered firmly and Nora shrugged, as if to say that it was his loss, before walking forwards and taking a faithful leap down into the blinding dark, disappearing in a matter of seconds. 

-oOo- 


	17. Chapter 16 part 1

Oopsy. Longo time no write, huh? Sorry 'bout that. Writer's block hit me hard for a while and I'm still finding it hard to shake entirely. I've been penning this chapter for a long time and I have to say, I'm still not overly fond of it. But I had to do it to get the story moving again. I'm so near the end I can taste it almost Chapter 17 is proving a bitch to write as well, but at least I have the conversations (and theres LOTS of conversations in it) written down already. Anywho, I hope it's not too bad.

And Margo, I must say I love you for your continuing lovely reviews:hugs: Thank you ever so, I know I never say it enough but I do appreciate comments and ideas and reviews.

And this is only the first part! The second part is only short and shouldn't take too long for me to add.

**Chapter 16 (part 1).**

Once inside the pitch blackness of the hole in the jungle floor, Sawyer was surprised to find himself in a rusty brown, hewn from the very rock and earth of the island's underbelly, tunnel. The metal walkway that ran beneath their feet to prevent the dirt there from churning into mud, ran from the disappearing point of one end to the disappearing point of the other, daubed a similar rust red as the roughly carved walls and ceiling. Small globes of dim orangey light were the only things that kept the entire tunnel from darkness, though some of the bare bulbs flickered and others had long since gone out altogether leaving little pools of unmarred and uninterrupted dark along the clanging metal river into the man-made warren's distance. Thick pipes ran overhead, dead centre and bolted into the mucky ceiling with finger-thick, also rusting bolts. Some resembling power cables, perhaps the size of his forearm. Some resembling thick, clay sewage pipes and some tiny and normal, insignificant like household appliance wires.

"They all belong to the security system," Nora stated proudly from where she leaned back against the dirt brown of the walls, bound hands clasped behind her head in a deceptive pose of relaxation. Her bare feet crossed at the ankles. "The wires and pipes. The larger ones at least…" she removed her hands from where they had made themselves useful as her makeshift pillow, to point directly up at the thinner, less noteworthy cords and Sawyer found himself compelled to glance up at them as her gesticulation silently instructed him to. "The narrower ones link all of the island's computer systems together. A network if you will. It feeds information back and forth."

"What information?" Michael queried suddenly and Sawyer could tell that the other man was fighting hard to remain civil to their prisoner and guide. For what reason, Sawyer himself was unsure, but Nora seemed to know. Smiling like a cat who'd got the cream, she almost seemed to have expected Michael's question.

"Results. Test analysis. Input from the security system. Most anything you can think of really…" she paused briefly, allowing her arms to drop from where she had been directing their attentions, hands slapping into her lap as she pushed off from the wall, standing face-to-face with the man who had spoken who ran a hand over his ebony hair, leaving it where it came to rest at the nape of his neck.

"Even messages from the user of another island computer?" he questioned somewhat tentatively of her and the slight, dirty, blonde woman responded with a light hum of amusement before turning on her heel and beginning a hasty march away from them.

"Even such messages," she conceded but she did not get very far before Locke demanded to know where exactly she was going. She huffed with impatience, showing a rare glimpse of her true temperament to the companionship, at their constant questions and demands. "To the _moon_, John!" she snapped, halting her stride as abruptly as she had started it to throw an irate glare over her shoulder. "Where do you _think_ I am going? Where have I _told _you that I'm going?"

Locke pursed his lips, weather worn brow creasing with the beginnings of a frustration induced frown, but he nodded anyway and started after her, beckoning for the other four men to follow his example and do the same.

And three of them did. Sawyer, however, wasn't quite as willing to charge into the unknown after Nora, to wherever it was that she was taking them. She could be leading them in circles for all they knew! Into a trap. Anything. And what was worse, was they were letting her do so with little more than a half-hearted 'are we nearly there yet?'

"How long'd you say it was gonna take us to get to wherever the hell we're goin'?" he called from his position at the rear of them all, but Nora, already halfway into the distance, kept walking, not even deeming his query worthy of a face-to-face answer.

"I _didn't_." she growled instead, voice reverberating off the walls and ceiling back to him. "But if you continue to walk fast enough, James, it should be no more than two hours. Maximum." She paused her speech and even though he could only glare at the back of her retreating head, he could feel the sly smirk crossing her lips. "I promise."

-oOo- 

Charlie paused outside the door to the living quarters of the hatch to catch his breath. Blood thundered in his ears and a stitch niggled at his side, forcing him to double over in agony.

Okay, so he had neglected to tell Ana-Lucia that, while he had indeed been cross-country champion for three consecutive years, that event had been when he was thirteen years old! A good twelve years or so ago and before heroine and booze had screwed up his physical fitness to the point where he was now-sweating so attractively like a pig, practically on his knees and gasping like a beached killer whale.

He rested his forehead onto the cool metal of the door and sighed with the relief of finally having reached his destination. Surely doom and death and the end of the world could have the decency to wait half a second until his heartbeat had settled back to a more becoming pace.

Hot breath misted against the cold metal separating him from the main area of the hatch.

He'd only been in there a handful of times. Once on button duty with Hurley. Once with Libby and twice with Steve before he and Locke had suffered their differences and their so-called 'friendship' had ended as abruptly as a punch to the face…or three to be precise.

Not that it had been much of a friendship to begin with. Charlie had always felt insignificant around John. As if he were nothing of worth. The scum of the earth. The older man, while Charlie had thought he'd been trying to help him at first what with the whole 'ask for the drugs three times' kick, had in fact been acting more like a dictator.

Who the hell did he think he was? Charlie's father? Did he actually think that he had any right what so ever to confiscate the Mary statues from him as if he were a naughty schoolboy? Without waiting for explanation? Not that Charlie even _needed_ to explain himself to the hunter anyway. No. That was the short answer. Plain and simple. As much as Locke believed he had the authority to control Charlie's life for him, he did not. Only God could judge him like that and in no way, shape or form did John Locke resemble the Good Lord.

Maybe it _had_ all been in a _bizarre_ attempt to help him. Perhaps he_ thought _he was doing a good thing by treating Charlie like a POW.

And then again maybe not.

Maybe John knew _exactly_ what he had been doing , exactly what he was making Charlie feel and perhaps he was _enjoying_ it. Perhaps he really did want to feel like God…

Charlie sighed again, deeply and straightened, shaking his head clear of his negative contemplations.

Ana hadn't sought to control him, even when demanding that he do something. He'd been wary of her at first following the incident with Shannon, then the whole Kate saga and the Latino woman's friendship with Claire. The fact that she use to be a Bobby hadn't eased his trepidation of her but now, following her desperate plea for assistance, following the fact that when he had stepped forwards she hadn't looked at him with condescension or disgust or contempt as others had, she had looked at him with hope, he was more than willing to trust her. And, swallowing down his pain from overexertion, he reached for the doorknob. That was what the British did. Soldier on. Get on with it. Sure, he'd have a good moan when it was all over because that was another classic British trait, the Art of Moaning, but he'd get the job done first.

"I'm glad you told me," Jack's voice spoke out suddenly from within, muffled and slightly hazy from the thick door between them. "At least now I know what I'm dealing with. I can prepare."

Kate murmured something unintelligible along side the doctor's comment and Charlie rolled his eye. If he had to endure another moment of vomit-worthy goo-goo eyes between the 'Island Newlyweds' he actually would be sick!

But another voice countered both of theirs, betraying that they were not alone and getting 'busy' as he had feared. A second female and not one that he'd heard around the caves or the beach before…and yet strangely one that he recognised…from before the crash.

Curiosity both held him back and tempted him to barge into the room unannounced as his hand, bitten down nails and scraped knuckles, wavered in the air, hovering above the door handle again. He held his breath, only recently regained, in an attempt to hear what was being discussed.

"Do you know the dates?" Jack was speaking again. Asking questions as per usual. That was all he ever did, as 'why' and 'what' and 'how'…but Charlie guessed that was what doctors were paid to do, so it wasn't exactly Jack's fault.

The second, unidentified woman in there cleared her throat.

"May the eighteenth," she responded to the inquiry and she sounded shy. So much so that Charlie could almost imagine her smoothing short dark blonde hair from her face as a distraction.

That caused him to pause suddenly. Dark blonde hair? Where the hell had that come from?

"Almost two months before the crash," Kate was saying, working it out as Charlie shook the confused from his brow and strained his ears again. "That's three and a half months, Cindy. I can't believe you let me drag you through the jungle like I did when you're three months-"

"You couldn't have known, Kate." Jack soothed in his muffled voice and before he could stop himself and before he could incriminate himself anymore by hearing whatever remained of their private conversation, Charlie opened the door and forced his way inside.

What had his mum always told him? Curiosity never killed the cat, but it sure as hell had him by the bollocks!

-oOo- 

"Jack!" the scruffy looking blonde man stated, stepping into the room and halting their conversation abruptly. So abruptly that it made Cindy's pulse rate kick up a notch with the irrational fear that it was one of Them.

The doctor, who had spent most of the day questioning her and examining her and then questioning her again, stood from his seat, drawn up close to the lumpy sofa that she shared with Kate.

"What is it, Charlie?" he queried and Cindy watched his brow crease with concern. Something was wrong.

The man, Charlie she presumed, chewed on a thumbnail somewhat anxiously, stuffing the other hand deep into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt jacket to prevent it from fidgeting nervously.

"There's a problem," he stated from behind a knuckle, eyes flickering over them to land upon her specifically and suddenly a flash of familiarity rushed through her like an electric shock making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. "At the beach."

Before Cindy could blink both Jack and Kate were moving with the British man, asking rapid questions of him and receiving mumbled and hurried answers in response that Cindy couldn't quite make out other than the odd word here and there though she tried her hardest, head whipping back and forth as she watched them moving to a stockroom and handing out guns.

That both scared her and spurred her out of her hush.

"What's going on?" she demanded, though even to her own ears her voice sounded pathetically fearful.

"Kate, I want you to stay with Cindy." Jack replied, ignoring her query entirely and turning to the brunette instead who responded with a defiant 'no way' that sparked a heated fit of whispers between them until Charlie stepped in and volunteered to stay behind instead. After all, he reasoned, he'd just '_legged it up from the bloody beach and needed a bloody breather!_'

Jack considered him for a moment longer than was necessary before the urgency to get moving and to whatever it was that was going on at the beach took a hold of him and with a flurry of reassurances tossed back to her and barely comprehended, Cindy found herself alone in the suddenly silent hatch with the scruffy Briton called Charlie who was so familiar to her that it was beginning to become infuriating.

"Alright, Love?" he asked lightly, drawing her out from her contemplations and her gaze up to meet his. He'd moved over to the kitchen counter, fingers drumming against the work surface, playing the notes on an imaginary grand piano. He took a breath, steeling himself for something it seemed. Eyebrows quirked as he pulled himself up to sit on the edge of the counter, splayed fingers wiping back sun blanched hair from his forehead to reveal a quizzical brow. "Do I…_know_ you…from somewhere?"

-oOo- 


	18. Chapter 16 part 2

Hey, I just want to thank you all for hanging with me while I've been on this hiatus.I hope you're all still with me and thanks for being patient. I'm working on chapter 17. It's handwritten just not typed so that won't be too much longer in the works. I don't know, I guess with certain "spoilers" recently my creativity has suddenly sparked again because no matter what happens in the show, here, in this fic Ana's going to be kicking around for sure for a long time.

Thanks again and I promise this fic isn't dead. It's nearing the finale soon. 

Sorry it took me so long and glad you're all liking it. Thanks ever so for all your lovely reviews and I hope you keep enjoying what I'm writing. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Lost, but if I did it would be VERY different.

**Chapter 16 (part 2)**

The jungle around them was silent. Eerily so, save for the noises that they made as Shannon lead them tentatively, gun clasped in hand, towards the hatch and towards the hope of safety.

Ana had instructed her to take the head of the first group of ten, full mostly of women and older members of the survivor community. Claire and her baby too. Those who were less likely to put up much of a fight and were, therefore, their top priority to move first if the Others decided to take the beach first as she suspected they would.

Ana herself had, surprisingly to most, taken the rear but she had done so for a reason. A reason best unknown by the group and most of all Shannon. She couldn't afford for any of them to panic anymore than they already had. They'd wasted more than enough time on that. The Others always came from behind and at least if she was there to meet them, she could provide a last line of defence for them, give them a fighting chance to complete the journey to the hatch. She'd keep the Others busy…for a while at least, but it was highly unlikely that they would come just yet. They liked to play with people's minds too much. They enjoyed the terror that they caused to take hold of men, women and children alike. They liked to be in control and They swore by trickery and deceit. Ana knew they were going to come. Sure, they were watching them as they hurried their way through the bracken right at that moment, but They wouldn't surface until they'd destroyed every last ounce of hope that they had left. If she could give her life ensuring that a handful of people at least survived before that happened and They finally came then she would do so.

Her hands fisted themselves a little tighter about her wooden club and she nudged the woman in front of her, who she vaguely remembered as Tracy, with her elbow, earning her a scowl and a curse muttered beneath breath.

"Keep moving." She responded resolutely, ignoring the insult and the woman did as she was instructed, albeit furiously.

Ana wasn't bothered about her sudden decline in popularity, however. She was doing what needed to be done. She was keeping them alive and if to do so meant that she became a figure hated, then so be it. She wanted to live, thank you very much, more than she wanted to be bosom-buddies with them all and as much as she would have liked to leave some of the more obnoxious ones behind at the beach, she had far too much guilt to contend with already to add the deaths and abductions of her fellow survivors to the equation.

Tracy in front of her stopped again so abruptly that Ana almost crashed into her headlong.

"I said keep it _moving_!" Ana growled again, stepping around the glaring brunette and glancing up the small line to see what was going on. "Shannon!" she called, but instead of the young blonde coming into view, came another slight brunette, one that Ana had never thought she'd be so glad to see, and the tall, reassuring figure of the island doctor.

"Ana!" they cried in unison and relief, meeting her halfway up the line and she greeted them with a curt nod. She wasn't one for 'I told you so's and now was neither the time nor the place even if she had felt inclined.

"Charlie got to you pretty fast then," she mused with a half smile and wary glance at their surroundings. "Whaddaya know. Boy can run after all."

Jack graced her comment with a fleeting grin but Kate remained stoic and held out a rifle towards her instead.

"Here," she stated and Ana received it gratefully, passing on her handmade club to one of the group who was currently weapon-less.

"You need to get them back to the hatch quickly," Ana stated in a hushed breath, dark eyes never leaving the other woman's face except to snatch a brief glance at the tall doctor at her side. She slung the weapon over her head and left shoulder expertly before receiving a handgun also offered to her by Kate. "And I want you to take Shannon with you and _keep_ her in the hatch-"

"_Shannon's_ not going _anywhere_." The blonde in quest announced, drawing their gazes apart as she stopped a few paces away from them, arms folded and frowning. "What are you? Like _three_ years older than me!" she snorted and suddenly Ana was aware of why exactly the majority of the other survivors had given the girl a less than flattering title. Right then Ana was being introduced to 'Shannon the Bitch'. "I don't need you to always be looking out for me and protecting me." A quick toss of her head, a flick of silk straight hair and her glare was back focused upon the three of them. "I can look out for myself."

Ana sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Why was it that people this side of the island were always so difficult? And why was it always the _blondes_? But she shook her head before her thoughts could degenerate any further and slip towards less constructive notions and concerns, and turned her back upon Jack and Kate briefly, taking Shannon by her shoulders to steer her to the side and keep their next exchange of words as private as they could from the gaggle of onlookers.

"Shannon-" she began but the young woman shook her own head more forcefully and shrugged Ana's hand away.

"I know this is just because you think you owe me one." She hissed through her teeth, tone harsh and yet little more than a whisper in the same instant. "You shot me! Big deal! It was an accident, I thought we'd been through all this before."

"It's not because I '_owe you one'_." Ana snapped back in return, mimicking Shannon's words in her ire and desperation.

"Don't lie, Ana. I'm the queen of lying, I know when someone's spinning me one." She snorted in return and Ana fell silent.

Perhaps she was protecting her merely because of the shooting incident. Did she feel the need to keep her safe to absolve her own guilt at the occurrence? Was it Sayid's reaction upon his return that prompted her to make certain of Shannon's security?

As if she'd read her mind and been privy to all her contemplations, Shannon smiled somewhat triumphantly and nodded, watching, through lighter brown eyes than Ana's were, intently.

"I'm right. I know I'm right, but you need to get over this, Ana, and start thinking about the best way to keep all these people, and all those others back at the beach, safe."

"And that's you?" Ana countered suddenly, eyes narrowing slightly at the lecture being given to her by a woman at least seven years her junior.

Shannon nodded. "I can use a gun better than most of the guys can." She returned, the harshness of before receding back behind her pretty face until there was no trace of their bitter exchange left to be seen. "I bet I've got a better aim than _you_ have!"

Ana's eyebrows lept up her forehead in part indignation and part amusement and she smiled, allowing a chuckle to pass her tight lips even as she rubbed a palm at her temples and shook her head. "I think we _both _know that's not true." She offered in a low tone but Shannon remained unmoved by the reference to their first meeting. "Alright," she hissed finally. "So you're good with a gun. That's all the more reason for you to go back to the hatch with Jack." Shannon opened her mouth, taking breath to interrupt but Ana continued on, speaking over her when she had to. "Look at them, Shannon." Her arm swept out wide inviting her to look over the congregation all wide eyes and staring at them. "They can't fight. None of them can put up little more than mild resistance. So what are they gonna do if the Other's come for them? Say I take you out there with me and we're _both_ killed, Shannon. What'll they do then? Who will be there to fight for them then?"

Silence fell between them as Ana's whispers subsided into the noise of the jungle wildlife and Shannon's gaze fell to the ground as she contemplated the words spoken. The truth to them.

At length she nodded. "Fine. I'll go with them to the hatch. But you really _do_ owe me one now." And Ana nodded back in return, smiling lightly at the brief attempt at levity before turning back to Jack and Kate as Shannon moved back towards the head of the expedition.

"Okay, I'm going back for the next group-" she stated resting her hands at her hips, weapon securely holstered in her belt.

"You can't go alone!" Kate protested with a slight frown and wary glance at the worried faces of the other survivors who shuffled after Shannon nervously and Ana rolled her eyes to the jungle canopy in exasperation. Not another one. "What if They come when you're out there alone?"

"Then I'll _kill _Them." She responded fiercely, beginning back down the line and in the direction that they had come from and there was an extended moment of silence before Kate followed her demanding that she was going too. It shouldn't have surprised her really. Kate had proved herself as the island busybody anyway but before Jack could protest, before Ana could tell her no chance in hell, a cry went up from the rear of the line. A scream of panic that caused fear to rise and settle across them all in a fevered pitch that made Ana's stomach churn.

"Where's Tracy!" one of the other women from the very back of the line cried in a panicked stutter, breath coming in ragged, very nearly hysterical gasps. "Where's Tracy! She's gone!"

-oOo- 

True to her word, two hours later, they stood before their destination. According to Nora that was, though the insignificance of the metal door made Sawyer a little more dubious of their current location than the others of the group.

It was just as dirty and rusted as the tunnels that they'd travelled along. Just as coated with mud and age and corrosion. It barely warranted their attention, Sawyer mused as they watched Nora step forwards and place her palms flat against it, still bound at the wrists.

"Welcome," she grinned across her shoulder to them all before wiping her hands back and forth across the door's surface in tandem, dislodging the filth there with a purpose to reveal what lay beneath.

The black paint was flaky and worn and the white paint almost non-existent save for the a handful of remaining specs that her hands nearly dislodged in the cleaning process.

Black lines and white writing spelling out letters familiar from the hatch back on the other side of the island and in the bunker where Ana had taken him, Mike and Jin following their release from the prison-pit that they had first got acquainted in.

A white silhouette of a bird, though not the same as the one back at the hatch that had given the place it's name '_The Swan'_. This bird had talons. This bird had a knife sharp beak.

"Welcome," Nora stated again, breaking into Sawyer's musings. "To the Hawk, Gentlemen."

-oOo- 


	19. Chapter 17

Well, I finally update. This one's a little bit longer this time but still only part one. Thanks for your lovely reviews Chickies, I 'preciate them lots. You're the ones keepign me writing. Hope you enjoy and lemme know what you reckon. And you get another flashback i this one. We've had little Ana ones before so now I've treated you to a little Sawyer one.

Disclaimer: I still own none of it!

**Chapter 17 (part 1).**

The noise was almost animalistic, pounding down the dim white corridor. Reverberating from wall to ceiling. Ricocheting about the stretch of gloom and dimmed lights like a gunshot announcing that the person who'd been caught in the weapon's crosshairs was dead or dying. A warning.

But he couldn't make out what it was. So loud that his eardrums ached and throbbed in protest of the onslaught. Was it an animal like he had first thought? Was it some poor soul being tortured beyond the threshold of all conceivable notions of pain? Or, like the security system, was it all merely mechanical? Was it digital? Was it synthetic noise with the purpose of terrifying them?

It was impossible to tell as they stood there at the entry to the Hawk, the door pushed back on it's hinges by the Other woman, allowing the sound to come crashing out to meet them like breakers thrashing against the seashore during a storm.

Beside him, to his right, and the furthest that the man could get away from their guide who was considering them through a vacant yet gleeful grin, Michael flinched at the noise, eyebrows drawing together into a frown similar to the one that Sawyer felt creasing his own brow.

It came in ebbs and waves. Cresting in crescendo before easing away into almost nothing, like breath was being taken to fill screaming lungs. A lull in the onslaught before it resumed it's prior heights once more. Relentless.

"What the hell is it!" Sawyer yelled to be heard over the din unsuccessfully but he received his answer anyway as they collectively stepped through the doorway, leaving Nora to close it behind them.

The sound changed suddenly, it curled and twisted through the air, becoming something more than it's indistinguishable nature and indiscernible creator. Suddenly it all became clear and Michael's pace beside him quickened from a careful, tentative walk to a flat out sprint. The sound became words. One word. The noise became voices. One voice in particular that spurred them all forwards faster and faster until they were gaining upon the distraught father pelting out a run along the corridor towards the voice's place of origination. The door at the very end of the passage. The door that stared at them from the gloominess.

"Dad!" it was screaming in a tone almost unrecognisable. "Dad! Dad!"

"Walt!" Mike bellowed in reply, hands flying out before him as he slammed full force into the door, unable to stop himself in time from the sheer momentum that his dash had built up. He hammered against the thick metal of the door again, futilely, pounding into it with fists and shoulders and feet until he had exhausted himself and Sawyer and the others had reached his side.

"Open the damn door!" he barked at Nora's figure, sauntering towards them where they had collected. Taking her time with a lazy, superior smile upon her thin lips.

Very slowly she moved her bound hands up to her throat, tugging a chain there, half hidden beneath her ragged collar, to produce a single dogtag looped together with a key.

"Here," she said, voice humming through the stale air and ducking her head out from the chain's captivity. "Someone needs to put the key in the lock and turn it at the exact same moment as the code is typed into the door's security panel." She tossed them through the air as she spoke, towards them all, not caring who caught it or if it fell to the ground with a clatter and Sawyer snatched the curious necklace out of the air, setting about removing the key immediately. "The code is imprinted upon the dogtag." Nora added, almost as an after thought and the blonde southerner passed it onto Sayid who had already made swift work of discovering the digital door panel in the wall.

It was perhaps the only time that the pair had ever worked together without complaint or sarcastic remark and perhaps it would be the only time that their clashing tempers and personalities would allow them to do so. Either way they moved in tandem, barely needing to look up and see when the other was about to turn the key or input the code number. A team and a damn good one at that.

The door hissed, like a snake releasing a long held breath of warning, in protest or being unlocked by them and, as Michael pushed forwards and past them roughly in his desperation, throwing the door back in on itself, the hinges squealed and groaned at such heavy-handedness.

The room was lit by the same bare light bulbs that had frequented the passage ways that they had travelled, but it was all the light that they needed to see him, so small and young and lonely, sat upon the side of a medical bed, kicking his legs back and forth as he waited patiently for them to step in. A complete contrast to his screams a scant few moments previously though tears did taint his face and his breathing came in gasps, shuddering his small frame.

"Walt…" Michael's voice choked noticeably to Sawyer's ears, filled with held back tears and emotions so strong that the entire group could feel them careering around the small, stark, box-like room.

Eko and Sayid remained outside at a nod from Sawyer to keep their eyes upon Nora who whistled tunelessly and stared at the brown ceiling absently.

The young boy thudded against his father's chest, tears spilling from his own eyes as he wrapped slim, small arms about Mike's neck, hefted into a strong embrace. Finally they were reunited again, after so long apart and Sawyer felt a smile cracking his own lips. Had he been in Mike's shoes, had he had a son or daughter taken by the Others…had Ana been taken by them, he would have fought to the bitter end to get them back. Just like Mike had done. And he would have succeeded too, again just like his friend had.

Slowly, as Michael and Walt clung to each other like only a father and son reunited after so long could, Sawyer found himself contemplating his previous thoughts further. What if Ana had been taken? What if she had been one of those unfortunates who had been taken that first night after the tail section had crashed down to earth on he other side of Hell Island? Where would he be now if she had never been there when he washed up on shore? Dead quite probably. What if she'd never hit him and started the whole crazy thing off? The truth was that she had fascinated him back then. Her ferocity, her survival instincts…and her barefaced cheek. No woman had dared punch him straight in the jaw like she had. Sure, Kate had beat him up a few times, but there had never been the same force behind it, the same conviction and utter belief that she was doing the right thing behind it like there had been behind Ana's. To put it bluntly, Kate's attacks had been half hearted at best. And so his Momma had been right all those years ago…

_-Flashback-_

The car was silent as he sat in the back passenger seat and glared sullenly out of the window at the passing scenery, and it wasn't a good silence. No, it made his tummy squirm like a whole bag of wiggly worms and it made him chew nervously on his thumb nail. He was so for it now.

Eventually, in front of him, his Momma sighed tiredly, tapping her index fingers against the steering wheel, as they pulled up to a red light, and she adjusted her rear-view mirror, staring at him through the reflection.

"You wanna tell me what happened today, Hun?" her voice queried through the heat and muzzy air inside the beat up vehicle, but he refused to meet her eyes, even if they were only the replica of them in the mirror surface. "Why I got a call from your principal and had to leave work an hour and a half early to come pick you up?" she cleared her throat and continued, smoothing blonde hair from her gaze and pulling the little car away when the traffic lights turned to green.

He shrugged and continued to bite his nails. "Didn't Mrs Taylor tell you 'bout it?" he mumbled from behind a knuckle, devoutly studying the dirt that had once again ingrained itself onto the knees of his jeans.

His momma sighed again, though this time it was more out of frustration.

"Yeah, Mrs Taylor did tell me 'bout it," she replied, voice a little firmer than before. He was definitely in deep trouble now. "But I wanna hear it from you."

He stared back out of the window at the passing houses and weighed up his options. He could continue being stubborn, keep his pride and remain tight lipped about the whole "incident" that had gotten him detention for a week and sent home early from school…and quite possibly would earn him a tanned hide for being cheeky to his Momma. Or he could get it over and done with now, while they were in the car where his behind was safely protected.

"…'Cause I hit Laney Baxtor." He mumbled after a moment of longer consideration, though the latter of the two options had most definitely been a no-brainer.

His Momma sucked in her breath between her teeth as if it were the first time she'd heard the news and then she became very quiet and very still, almost like a statue sat in the driver seat of the chugging car. Things were going from bad to worse faster than he could count to three.

"She said mean things to me Momma!" he continued, eyes filling with tears of panic. Damn, he'd miscalculated her reaction! No way he was getting out of a hiding now. "She said I-"

"I thought I brought you up better than that." she stated in a clipped, sharp tone, cutting off any and all of his protestation that he had been provoked and he gave up the fight entirely, slumping in the spongy backseat. "No matter what she said or did to you, I brought you up a gentleman and taught you never, NEVER to hit a lady!" she flipped the indicator with her forefinger and hefted the steering wheel so that they turned down the right hand side road. The home stretch. "Are you listening to me, Young Man?"

He glowered down at his clasped hands in his lap, resigned to his fate now and sulking about it. He shrugged defiantly and once more his Momma's sigh was tired more than angry.

"Just you wait, James Ford," she muttered through gritted teeth, pulling the car up to park outside their house. "One of these days you're gonna find yourself fallin' for a pretty girl who's got herself a right hook that's meaner 'an yours. An' she's gonna teach you one hell of a lesson, Boy!"

"No I won't!" James piped from his place, momentarily forgetting that he was supposed to be being good to try and escape his punishment. "I hate girls!"

And his Momma laughed, "Yeah and I wonder how long that's gonna last for?" she chuckled stepping out of the car and causing relief flow through him as he peered out of the window at her…until her frown returned and she tugged his door open. "Now get outta the car."

-End Flashback-

Yes, his Momma had been right and he'd fallen for the challenge. A longer con than he had ever pulled before. In his life…except it had never truly been a con, as much as he'd tried to tell himself otherwise. He was in far too deep for that and he had been ever since that first time she'd been dropped into that pit at her feet and she'd pulled her own con on him, reeling him in like a fish on a hook. Hook, line and sinker too, didn't the saying go? Perhaps he had been ensnared by the big, dark eyes watching him with feigned fear as she recounted her semi-false story to them. She sure knew how to set a guy up. Leaving hair loose and long to curl about her face in ebony waves and portray the damsel in distress and the tone of voice, just enough terror, just enough sadness and just enough fight.

Finally Sawyer shook his head and tried to focus back upon the matter at hand rather than the sickly feeling that was plaguing him deep down in his gut at the mere notion of what could have been if he and Ana had never crossed paths. But the feeling continued even as he noticed that Walt was talking at him from the safety of his father's arms.

"Come again, Short Stack?" he queried, noting the grave looks worn on all faces as he glanced around at them each in turn.

And Walt was crying. Shaking his head and crying.

"You shouldn't have come here," he sobbed, his voice high and staggered with emotion and fear. He shook his head and buried his face in Michael's shoulder. "You shouldn't have come here for me!"

"Hey," Mike soothed, smiling through his relief at having his son with him again. "It's gonna be okay now, Walt. I'm here now and I'll never let anyone take you away from me ever. I promise!"

Walt struggled to pull back from his father's crushing embrace just enough to look him in the eye as he shook his head, small hands fisted into the shoulder's of his red t-shirt.

"I _know_ all that, Dad." He countered with an uneasy breath induced by his tears. "I know _we're_ gonna be okay…it's the other guys, back at the beach, It'd Jack and Kate and Shannon and Ana and everyone else back-"

Sawyer's eyebrows drew down into a confused frown, blood thundering in his ears. Perhaps he was hearing things now as well after his little trip down memory lane and the "coulda been's" and "what if's" whirling through his mind.

"How'd _you_ know Ana?"

Walt turned to him again, large, dark eyes fearful and shimmering with fresh, unshed tears.

"Alex told me about her." He responded quietly and that spurred Sayid, across the room over by the door, out of his silence.

"Alex?" he demanded. "Alex _Rousseaux_?" and the little boy nodded, dislodging more tears as he bit his lower lip, worrying it with his teeth.

"And Emma and Zack, but Alex-"

"They're_ here_? Emma and Zack? The other children!" Eko injected, breaking into the room and the conversation as abruptly as Sayid just had, but Walt didn't flinch. He merely nodded, with the patience of a saint and pointed out of the door with only slight annoyance at being interrupted showing upon his young face.

"They're in the next rooms along and they'll be so happy to see you, Mr. Eko." He offered the swarthy Nigerian and Eko took off out of the room, snatching the key and dogtag from Sayid as he hustled past and away to release the other children.

"Anyway…" Walt continued with a sniff. "Alex was the one who told us to send the visions of Sawyer to Ana-Lucia."

Sawyer felt his knees threatening to give way beneath his own body weight from the sheer shock of what the boy had just told them.

"Visions…of, of…_me_?"

"Yeah," Walt nodded in confirmation. "See, I tried sending them to Shannon, but I wasn't strong enough on my own so they kept coming out all backwardsy and stuff."

"I remember," Sayid interrupting again, eliciting a brief nod of acceptance from a calmer Walt. "I saw you once too."

"Then Alex said one day that They were going to let me meet with some other kids like me and that if I wanted to stop what was going to happen, then we should use our minds together." He paused to wipe his nose clean on the sleeve of his shirt and to curl his other arm tighter about Michael's neck, though whether it was to comfort himself or his father more, Sawyer didn't know. "It was Alex's idea to use Ana-Lucia. She said that she was the best choice, 'cause Shannon still wasn't properly better from the accident. And 'cause Emma and Zack knew her so well. It was so easy with three of us 'cause when it was just me, I could never get the speaking to come out right, but with Emma doing the finding of Ana and me doing what Sawyer looked like, Zack could do the speaking real good."

Sawyer swayed where he stood, taking a step back so that he felt the cold, hard wall pressing up behind him. He raised a hand to his brow, scrubbed at his eyes as if to make them see more clearly instead of the dream that he found himself in. A disbelieving chuckle passed his lips, bubbling out almost hysterically.

"Someone pinch me," he demanded with a snort and another shake of his head. "I gone fallen into the damn Twilight Zone!" he laughed again, to the ceiling, until Locke's hand on his shoulder drew his gaze down to meet the other man's.

"Calm down, James." Locke said smoothly, apparently unfazed by the bizarre notion of visions being sent back to different people. Sayid too seemed far too calm and comfortable for the current turn of events, standing in the doorway, arms folded. He was a soldier for Christ's sakes! Surely he was too grounded, too sensible to believe what they were being told by a ten year old boy who suffered the trauma of a kidnapping. "Let's allow Walt to finish speaking." And before Sawyer could respond with further disbelief, Locke turned and crouched down beside Michael and Walt so that their eyes were level. "Why did you have to send these…visions back at all, Walt?"

The boy sighed deeply through his nose and wriggled free from his Dad's grasp so that he could stretch out stiff limbs and then sit himself back upon the medical bed, legs dangling over the edge.

"To stop what was going to happen. What They were doing." He responded as if it were as simple as counting to three.

"What was happening? What were They doing?" the older, bald mad persisted and Walt replied with a glance that was almost severe.

"I said not to open the hatch, Mr Locke, but you didn't listen. No one ever listens to me anyway, so I don't know why I-"

"We are listening to you now, Walt." Sayid gently cut in, breaking into the little boy's rant of childish temper from the doorway and, though he still frowned slightly, though he rolled his eyes and muttered a strangled exclamation of 'God' beneath his breath and through clenched teeth, Walt did, eventually, continue.

"_Because_," he drew the word out, highlighting his annoyance still. "They needed to be warned somehow! It was the only chance that there was to save them and from what Emma and Zack and Alex told me, Ana is the best chance that they have of surviving now." He grinned a little and sniffed again. "Did you know she use to be a cop?" his enthused, conversation topic traversing suddenly. "That's so _cool_! Like those TV shows I use to watch back in Sydney with Mom and Brian."

Confusion drew Sawyer's eyebrows down into yet another headache inducing frown and he ran a hand back through bedraggled blonde hair until it rested at the nape of his neck heavily. Wearily. He was tired and confused and worried now.

"You're talkin' in riddles , Yoda." He growled lightly, annoyed mainly by his own inability to think straight. "Why d'they need warnin' at all? And why's Ana gonna have to save 'em?"

And again Walt rolled his eyes as if he thought Sawyer to be entirely incompetent. And perhaps he was but he was beyond caring.

"Because, I'm the _decoy_." He stated and after a long moment of terrible, stunned silence, he went on, thinking that the adults didn't understand. "You know? Like in Star Wars? Episode 1? The Phantom Menace?" he raised his eyebrows expectantly. "When the Queen pretended to be a handmaiden so that the bad guys didn't know who she really was?" he blinked wide, hopeful eyes around at them all slowly before huffing again in impatience and irritation. "You know the one with Darth Maul in!"

"He's telling you no word of a lie." The soft, amused, spiteful voice of their long forgotten captive wound through the silence between them as she stood on her tiptoes to peer over Sayid's powerful shoulder. "He really _is_ the decoy." And laughter, wild and unbridled, rang out from her throat like the tolling of a funeral bell. "Did you really believe that I would lead you here, to him, Walt, if we had _any_ further need for him at all?" she giggled, shaking her head. "No. Why and how do you think that Cindy escaped?" she raised her eyebrows as Walt had moments previously, pushing her way past the stoic Iraqi to stand in the centre of the dull little room. "Why do you think that I mentioned that I was so glad to see Kate had joined you on your little expedition?" she watched intently as the light of understanding began to dawn in their eyes. Realisation. Sudden horrific comprehension that they had been used and they had all played right into the Other's hands.

"You _wanted_ them both to go back?" Locke hazarded tentatively, voice merely an aghast whisper as he stood to his full height once more and turned to face her squarely. "You _wanted_ them both to go back to the beach!"

She clapped her hands together, still bound at the wrists, mockingly. "Very clever, John." She chuckled, sarcasm lacing her tone. "Really? And you figured that out all by yourself? Very clever."

-oOo-


	20. Chapter 18 part 1

I am SO sorry that it has taken me so long to get this chapter out...or this first half of the chapter anyway. Sorry! Writer's block is a pain in my ass as is dead laptops (AGAIN!) and work. But here it is and a warning, this chapter's a bit of a doozy. I hope what I've written is actually understandable because there's lots of talk in this chappy and I confused myself at some points. Lemme know if it's too stupid to understand.

And without further ado (coz you've all waited too long for this) I give you... 

p.s Disclaimer: Me no owny!

**Chapter 18 (part 1).**

Tracy was gone now. Snatched while they argued about who would go back to the hatch with the first group of survivors and who would return to the beach and risk their lives. Tracy who a mere few moments earlier had annoyed Ana to a point only ever achieved before by a certain Southern Conman. Tracy who she had failed. Tracy who was lost…

Guilt swirled faster and more wildly in Ana's stomach and in response to it she quickened her sprint, pulling ahead of the brunette, who had ultimately gotten her own interfering way to accompany Ana back to the beach and the next group of people, and had previously been keeping pace with her.

The jungle was silent again and in gaps and flashes between the trees ahead, they could glimpse the blue of the sky and the sea turning slowly into an inky black as the sun sank below the horizon, taking their hopes with it.

"I've got a _bad_ feeling about this…"

oOo 

"Why!" Locke demanded of Nora, showing a flash of anger that was very rarely ever seen across the face of the usually annoyingly placid man. "Why go through all the trouble of capturing Cindy and Walt only to let _one_ go and for the other to be of no _use_ to you!"

He was furious now, Sawyer could tell from the way he paced the room like a caged tiger, fists balling themselves and clenching at his sides, turning knuckles bone-white. No doubt he was feeling the same urges that had consumed both Michael and Sawyer himself, provoking them to attack Nora in their separate moments of fury.

"Who do you _really_ want, if not them?" Locke continued to rage.

But Nora neither flinched beneath the older man's ire nor acknowledged the dangerous tone lancing through his words like a blade. Instead she crouched down in front of Walt, sat perched upon the narrow medical cot, and shared an almost friendly, conspiratorial wink. As if they were sharing some private joke, but a frown that drew down the boy's brow, betraying his dislike of the woman before him.

"Shall we tell them, Walter?" she mused lightly. "Shall we let them in on our little secret?"

Michael moved before she had even finished speaking. Stepping between her and his son and breaking their eye contact so abruptly that Nora took a reeling step back, involuntarily, standing bolt upright.

"You don't _speak_ to my boy!" Mike ground from between teeth clenched so tight that a muscle twitched in his jaw. His voice was low and distorted with hate, the light in his eyes and the look on his face was as deadly as Locke's was. "You don't come _near_ him! You don't_ touch _him! You don't even _look_ at him! Am I clear?"

Nora stubbornly clenched her own teeth and pursed her lips, draining them of all colour until they held a deathly pallor. Her dark eyes narrowed to slits of jet as she glanced up into Michael's fearsome visage until finally, begrudgingly, she nodded. She understood.

"You got something to say, you say it to _me_!" he added, turning to heft the ten year old boy back into the safety of his arms and pacing to the other side of the room, as far away from the slight woman as was possible in the restricted space.

"Fine." She snorted, taking the space that Walt had previously occupied upon the bed, crossing her legs and leaning back against the wall as if she were getting herself comfortable. "We took Walt for his aptitude. His telepathic abilities. To study it." She began, smoothing her filthy, ragged clothing straight, as if they were made out of silk, before looking them each in the eyes in turn. "We discovered through the Ethan and Charlie Pace incident that the larger survivor community was _far_ more difficult to infiltrate than those who survived from the tail section of your plane. The group was more united for one and harder to influence in the way Goodwin did, with Mr Eko and his…compatriots, in the case of Nathan…" deft, slim, grubby fingers flicked at the creases in her shirt again before settling back into her lap, clasped and still bound. "Walt served another purpose for us when he appeared to Shannon and provoked the shooting. That episode, while it was considered a failure in it's primary purpose – removing Ana-Lucia from the equation – still caused a sufficient rift between the groups to be considered an ultimate success. Actually, it worked out _better _than expected as Shannon survived. We were reluctant to sacrifice her in the beginning, but such sacrifices _must_ be made from time to time in order to ensure sufficient progress." She paused to breathe and swallow, noting the horrified looks adoring all of their separate faces with something akin to smug triumph upon her own, before she continued. "Then we used Walt again," she shrugged as if it was merely a minor detail. "Done with our test and study concerning his abilities, we used him to send messages through the computer systems to you, Michael. Following that, we always knew it would not be a very lengthy period of time before you embarked upon such a _foolish_ and _futile_ expedition as you find yourselves upon now." The cold, bitter light sparked in her eyes once more as she spoke, lowering her voice until it thrummed out to them all from the back of her throat. "Walt _was_ the bait, I'm afraid, and you all played _right_ into our hands down to the very people that you _chose_ to accompany you upon your quest!" she laughed, the air leaving her lungs in short bursts of hilarity. "You gathered together the best people for your mission, yes, but in doing so, you also _killed_ any chance that the survivor group back at you _'home' _on the beach ever had of reuniting and becoming one. Any chance that they had of working together, of being amalgamated to face my colleagues when the arrive there, any chance that they have of surviving _died_ when _you_ put together your merry band of men!"

Silence filled the room. Stunned and appalled at what the Others' woman had just suggested to them. They could only stand there, in a combined daze until her laughter had run it's course and she settled herself, calm once again.

"Now, as to one of your _prior_ queries," she continued, ignoring their reticence and before any of them could come to their senses properly and interrupt her with demands and threats. "Who do we really want? I should've thought that was _obvious_ by now…" she scoffed. "Or are you all so thoroughly blinded by your own _arrogance_ and _ignorance_ that you do not even see wha-"

"Answer the question." Sayid's voice rang out, smothering Nora's words with an icy, clipped tone of neatly controlled fury and she shot him a withering glance, rolling her eyes either at the Iraqi's interruption of her monologue or at all of the continued cluelessness.

"The _women_," she snarled in impatience. "Claire Littleton was the first, the primary target, as she was almost full term with her pregnancy. Ethan managed to retrieve her successfully but our…tests were never completed before she escaped with aid of one of our own…Goodwin was sent for our secondary target. Cindy. Only three months pregnant and yet that was an easier option than impregnation upon this island. Not that we don't have the facilities," she hastened to assure them. "No, that is why we let her go. It was easier to move her by letting you do the job for us…or Kate rather." She smirked again and snorted once. "Natural impregnation always yields better results for some _bizarre_ reason…Curious really, we've never figured out why that-"

"Remain on the point!" Sayid snapped again and Sawyer, only just coming out of his shock induced stupor, standing dazed, horrified and more than a little confused, leant against the wall, flashed a glance at his usually collected companion.

"Fine." Nora sniffed indignantly, tossing her head to shift the ropey blonde locks that had fallen into her view, obscuring it partially. "Following our primary and secondary targets come the other women. Tertiary priorities if you will. Both Goodwin and Ethan were sent to make lists of the good candidates, ones that met with the desired criteria, and the bad ones, to be avoided or disposed of if they caused too many problems." She smiled again, her eyes losing their focus ever so briefly as she stared past them into nothing, perhaps remembering the two Other men that she had named and who had both lost their lives in the pursuit of their orders. "A little side quest for them to fulfil whist going after their main objectives…"

Locke cleared his throat suddenly, drawing Nora's gaze to him, raising her eyebrows and making her resemble a school teacher waiting for a correct answer from a student instead of the woman that she actually was.

"Eko…said that the list of Goodwin's included both men _and _women. They tried to take Eko himself on that first night." He countered from behind a hand that smoothed across his jaw pensively. His anger had receeded now, so that it was concealed and kept in check once more, though it lurked dangerously close to the surface of his calm exterior.

And Nora yawned, turning her eyes to the ceiling as if she were becoming bored by them and theur constant questions and demands.

_"We needed the sperm from _somewhere…" she shrugged nonchalantly, again turning the revelation into a seemingly trivial mention. "And_ that _expedition upon the first night was _highly_ successful, therefore, my companions will have no need to bother with the remaining male population of your little…community." She paused and suddenly her dark, amused eyes lanced down from the ceiling to meet with Sawyer's, glinting at him with barely concealed mirth and boring holes through his own sapphire glare. "And nor will they need to bother with Ana-Lucia…"

oOo 

"Thanks." Kate breathed as they broached the tree line and drew to a halt in order to gain their breath and strength for the return journey to the hatch.

Ana flickered a glance over her shoulder at the smaller woman, leaning back against a palm tree in the beginnings of exertion, before turning her gaze out to where the group of people stood huddled together around a fire that someone had obviously lit to ward away the coming night.

"For what?" she responded briefly, catching her own breath and a little confused at why Kate had chosen that particular moment to attempt to strike up a conversation between them after the long moments of silence in the jungle. She tucked her handgun into the back of her belt and secured her rifle, slung across her shoulder. It wouldn't do to panic everyone by letting them see her with a weapon, loaded and cocked.

Kate mimicked her actions before speaking again, a little less breathlessly.

"For letting me come along," she responded, tugging the straps of her own rifle and Jack's backpack, filled with ammunition, further into her own shoulders. "I _needed_ to do this…Jack doesn't understand that sometimes." She considered her own words, tilting her head at a jaunty angle, like a bird considering something on the ground far below it's nest. "…Most of the time, actually."

"Jack's just looking out for you," Ana replied, feeling the urge to defend Jack at least a little while the woman before her, supposedly his partner, spoke out so openly against him. She kept her voice light, however, watching as Kate reached around her back and retrieved a bottle of water from the pack. "Maybe that's something that _he_ needs to do for himself, but if you've got demons you have to face, Kate, who are he and I to stop you?"

And Kate nodded, subdued, taking in Ana's words as she sipped at her water, hand pressing at a stitch of pain in her side. And even as she did, Ana felt a wry smile curling her own lips up.

"Besides," she chuckled, shaking her head at the ironic words that she was next to say. "I know that you can fight, Kate. And I'd rather have you watching my ass right now than anyone else."

Kate's face was such a picture of shock that Ana nearly choked on her own laughter. Green eyes wide and more than a little confused at what had just been spoken between them. Perhaps a little disbelieving of it too. She glanced away to the ground before her with a frown, opening her mouth to question either what Ana had just said or the Latino woman's sanity in that moment, but then she snapped it shut again, remaining silent until she herself chuckled and shook her head.

"Even Sawyer?" her tone was teasing, emerald irises meeting Ana's narrowed gaze again and this time the spark and fire that had burned between them so long ago when they had faced off against one another in the caves, returned though at a more reduced level. It was amused this time, not furious and Ana's smile widened to a grin in reply.

"Let's not get _too _carried away, Chica."

And the slim brunette laughed out loud at the other woman's growled, feigned irritated response as they lingered a little longer on the tree line. Louder and more genuine than Ana had heard her laugh in the entire time that they had known one another.

"Yeah, well, for what it's worth," Kate stated, pausing briefly to take another slug of water from her bottle before offering it over to her 'sister in arms'. "The feeling's mutual."

Ana's eyebrows rose up her forehead at that.

"That right?" she mused with another suppressed laugh, nodding her thanks for the offered water and drinking her fill before returning it. "And you'd rather have _me_ watching your ass, than Jack?"

Kate could only nod, mouth full again, and Ana slitted her eyes, smirking thinly and raising her chin in a jerk of challenge.

"And what about _Sawyer_?"

Kate snorted, almost spraying her last mouthful of liquid out and over Ana-Lucia, in amusement. She swallowed, the back of her hand to her mouth to remove any access water from her lips and chin, shrugged and then gave an exaggerated sigh.

"C'mon, Ana. And besides, you know what they say, never send a man to do a woman's job."

oOo 

I hope it's been worth the wait... 


	21. Chapter 18 part 2

Ooo! the next part of chapter 18, Darlings! I hope you enjoy it and I hope you're all ready for the plot twist! Finally, you're all going to find out what it is!

There's going to be another part of chapter 18 too, part 3, coz this is a hella long chapter to write out all at once. Phew!

Oh and p.s. Go back and check out chapter 2, it's been altered and rewritten to get Ana more in character...I was young and naive back then and I wasn't very good at getting her in character I hope the new chapter 2 is better than the old version

**Chapter 18 (part 2).**

"What…what's that about Ana?" Sawyer could hear his own voice, deceptively calm in that moment, working it's way from his strangled throat. He could feel his own lips moving, as if of their own accord, to speak the query. His mind was else where, however, consumed by the fear that had resumed it's attack upon his stomach and had suddenly lodged itself, more ferociously than ever before in their arduous mission, in his chest. Right behind his heart.

He managed to swallow, clenching his jaw and attempting desperately to keep himself upright, when all his knees seemed to want to do was buckle beneath him and send him crashing to the ground. His ears buzzed, rang, chimed with the threat of passing out, the fear was that strong, making him sway slightly. The guilt that was just starting to pool deep down next to that fear, keeping it company…even if he did not know how truthful Nora Hewmot was being. Perhaps she was just intent upon panicking them. Him in particular. Why else would she mention Ana?

"What _about _Ana!" he demanded again, a little strength returning to his voice, though he did not know where he was finding it in that terrible heartbeat of misgiving.

Sawyer clenched his jaw a second time, teeth working against each other until the bone against bone squealed in his head. A frown darkened his brow so heavily that he felt pain explode behind one eye and yet, Nora remained silent and still, her annoying, amused, smug grin plastered over his face to the point where he wanted to slap her again, like he had back in the jungle the previous night, and wipe it from her features.

He opened his mouth, drawing breath and prepare to repeat his command a third time but her giggle stopped him short, causing him to snap his mouth shut once more.

"Did you not _know_, James?" her voice was that of feigned shock mixed together with pity. Her eyes, however, showed nothing but blackness. Dead to humanity. Her eyes were not human anymore. And they laughed at him. Mocked him in his moment of desperation. "Did Ana-Lucia not _tell_ you yet?"

"Tell me what?" he growled with a sweeping shake if his blonde haired head. Reluctant to ask the question and give her what she wanted, and yet, too frantic to know the answer to care that Nora was having the time of her life torturing him so.

And Nora raised her chin, brazenly, as if she were the captor and not the prisoner, challenging him with her narrowed eyes of coal.

"Perhaps she's not as _attached_ to you as you'd like to believe she is, James." She shrugged and shook her head almost sadly. "Perhaps she's not as attached to you as you so obviously are to _he_r, hmmm?" there was laughter in her tone that time as she raised her eyebrows at him, smiling thinly, and Sawyer had to use all of his self control to keep from surging forwards and strangling her right then. His muscles tensed and coiled beneath his clothes and skin. Fists clenched at his side until his knuckles felt fit to pop.

"Keep talking." He managed to grind out from between his teeth. "'Fore I do something that _you'll_ be regrettin' later…like when you ain't _breathin'_." He jabbed a finger in her direction with as much venom as if he were stabbing her with a knife.

Nora sighed, shifter her legs until they stretched before her and she was comfortable again, hands clasped in her lap once more.

"Three years ago, James, Ana-Lucia Cortez was shot. Four times, actually. Four times spanning her below the ribs, her upper leg, hip and pelvic bone. A miracle she survived and so on and so forth and it was that _final_ shot, the one that caught her just to the left hand side of her pelvis, which killed her unborn embryo and, in turn, caused a cyst to form upon her left ovary." She paused, flashing a triumphant glance around at the other occupants of the room, before returning her heavy gaze to Sawyer's deadly still form, still leaning against the wall though more for support to keep himself upright now than comfort.

"The cyst came later, though," she continued. "A good few months after her accident. Eight, I think it was." She mused, raising her secured together hands to drum fingertips against her lower lip in contemplation, as if she were trying to remember the details to her story exactly. "Yes, it was _definitely _eight months." She nodded, pleased with herself. "The doctors, in order to save Ana-Lucia's life a _second_ time, were forced to operate and remove the entire ovary, therefore reducing her fertility dramatically and thus her chances of becoming pregnant once more. Oh yes," she hastened to add, eyebrows raised as she nodded in small, jerking movements. "She still has_ one _working ovary remaining. She still suffers from monthly menstruation. She even welcomes it like most women, myself included, do not. Have you ever noted that she _never_ complains during that time?" she spoke to them all again, silently demanding that they each ask themselves that question and draw their own conclusions from their answers. "She never becomes _moody_ or _volatile_. On the contrary," she flashed a smile back towards Sawyer, her main focus throughout her oration. "Whilst she is ovulating, Ana-Lucia becomes more companionable if anything, doesn't she, James? You should know. You are her current romantic entanglement? Aren't you?"

Sawyer spun on his heel, turning his back upon the woman questioning him and who apparently knew his life so well. They'd been watching then. Always they had been watching. Everything. From Ana's first conversation with him following their safe return to their companions from her side of the island, to her fight with Kate, to them combining their shelters into one and living together. They'd probably even been watching two days ago when he'd pressed her naked up against that tree on their way to the caves to hear Michael's plan for rescuing Walt…They'd seen everything and that very notion, the thought that They had planned and schemed and woven their depraved plans around his life and Ana's life and their interactions, made him feel sick to the stomach. Made him feel like he wanted to _kill_ something…_someone_!

Nora was talking again, at his back, he could feel her stare, heated and sharp, boring through his shoulder blades, as if she could look through into his very thoughts.

"It is because she considers it as hope. Hope that perhaps _one _day she may be a mother, even thought the doctors have all warned her that it is highly unlikely, if not impossible, that she will _ever_ bare a child."

Her voice was mocking now, trying to provoke him with slights against the woman he cared for and it was working. Oh God, was it working. But his mind instead turned back to his first night with Ana-Lucia. To the words that she had spoken to him, to how she had not felt ready to tell him all this that another woman was now relaying to him.

_-Flashback-_

"I ain't what you'd call 'daddy-material', seeing as I never really had one myself to learn from." he laughed but Ana cut him off, tossing the box back into his waiting hands.

"Don't worry about it." she stated flippantly, pulling herself to sit upright as he settled beside her, resting on one elbow and turning to face her. She sensed his curious stare scoring into the side of her face as she busied herself with removing her boots, slowly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked quietly, all joking and flirtation aside but Ana shrugged his question away, tugging her hair from where she had gathered it into a band at the nape of her neck.

Perhaps he knew that she was hiding something from him. That there was something that she was not quite comfortable with revealing to him just yet, but he allowed it to drop for the moment. He let it go, relinquishing his scrutiny of her when she told him once more not to concern himself and shifted over so that she straddled his waist, grin turning wicked once more.

"Now..." she mused, voice low and alluring. "Where were we?"

-End Flashback-

If only she had told him then. If only he had thought more of her and her well-being and less of his own physical needs…

_-Flashback-_

Thumbs hooked into her belt loops. Fingertips danced across the rim of her jeans, flirting with the nakedness there…until he felt it. Something different. Her perfect skin marred by something the size of his thumbnail. A little smaller maybe. So similar in size and shape to the very thing that marked his shoulder…

"What the h-?" he tried to sit up but she pushed him back with a palm forcefully against his chest, slapping his hands away from her waistband with the other.

"Don't." she warned in response, voice taut as she fended his hands away from their inspection a second time. "Just leave it, Sawyer."

"Now hang on, Chica!" he replied firmly, stubbornly, voice rising to match hers and he persisted in scrutinizing her, finding another similar mark higher on her left side. "These are damn bulle-"

She dismounted him before he could finish his sentence, pulling away from his invasive hands and searching for where he had tossed her top in the heat of the moment, settling for the nearest item of clothing, one of his plaid shirts, when she failed in her task.

"Hold on, Sugar." he soothed, reaching towards her but she shrugged him away. "Is this why you said it don't matter 'bout running outta-"

"I said 'leave it', Sawyer." she replied curtly, avoiding his gaze, and he suddenly felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water. All of the heat, the fire between them waning like a flame guttering in the wind. "Maybe this was a bad idea…"

"I'm only curious, Chica." he defended hastily as she yanked the shirt over her head, raising her arms one at a time to do so and inadvertently revealing another scar to his stare. "How'd you get them?"

"Please!" she stopped mid-dress, turning to face him finally with one arm rightly inside the armhole and one still out. "Don't!"

And the look that was on her face was one that he had never before seen upon the features of Ana-Lucia. Pleading. So desperate was she for him to drop the subject that he moved towards her and nodded his head in solemn accordance.

"Alright, Chica. Easy now. I'll shut up if you want me to that bad."

-End Flashback-

He should have made her tell him. He should have persisted even if she had changed her mind about having sex with him that first time. Even if she had left him alone that night and many more in succession after that. He should have been there for her. He should have helped her to shoulder that burden that she had been carrying alone for three years. He should have fixed it for her, protected her against the sorrow like no one had protected him as a child when his Momma had been shot by his Daddy. He should have fixed it for her…

Sawyer shook his head, heavy with his racing thoughts, not even bothering to fight against the torrent of emotions coursing through him like a tempest at that time. Sorrow, anger, regret, hate, desperation…love? He didn't mind saying it now, even if it was only to himself. He loved her and he almost kicked himself for taking so long to realise it, for not telling Ana sooner. He loved her.

Perhaps that was why she had refused to tell him of her predicament. Had she thought he'd up and leave her if he knew she couldn't bear children? Well not couldn't. It was highly _improbable_, not _impossible_. Had she even thought they were that _serious_ back then? Did she even _now_? Probably not after all the things that he had done to her, to keep her from this expedition and out of harms way, though that didn't change the fact that he'd loved her back then as well. He'd just been too blind and stubborn to see it. His chauvinistic side, his egotistical desire to keep her safe may well have very well put her even further into danger than if she had accompanied him. He should have trusted her and her abilities. He should have gone back with Cindy when the Island had told him to, but he hadn't, and if she died now because of him…he'd never forgive himself.

The breath choked in his gullet and if Sayid or Michael or Locke heard it, they covered their own emotions well enough and kept their features in the visage of light confusion. It really wasn't their place to comment, they knew that, and he silently thanked them for their understanding.

Nora, however, was not so honourable and descending into a fit of snorts and giggles at his reaction that made Sawyer turn to look over his shoulder like lightening and fix her with a piercing stare of incredulity.

"Ana-Lucia is not worth the time and effort it would take for us to test her and ascertain whether or not impregnation of her is plausible." She cackled as if she's just been told a joke for the first time and found it hilarious. "She would merely be a waste, especially when there are _other_ woman, like Claire and Cindy, who are _already_ proven to be fertile…" her eyes took on a strange light as she looked up into his face as he turned it over his shoulder, glaring at her from the corner of his blue eyes. She lowered her voice to almost nothing and yet, the words that she spoke thudded through Sawyer as if thunder had cracked out in the sky above them. "Ana-Lucia is useless to us and quite soon she shall be _dead_!"

-oOo-  
So, what d'ay think of that then?Part 3 should be coming soon. 


	22. Chapter 19 part 1

Okay, so I said that this was going to be part 3 of chapter 18 but it's turned out longer than I expected and so it's chapter 19 part 1. Sorry for mucking you all around. And sorry that I didn't post his sooner. It's not my favourite chapter that I've ever written but I like the Kate/Ana stuff and it needed to be written. kind of a filler chapter maybe.

My, my, my! Were all those lovely gorgeous reviews for me? Little old me? You girls don't know how much I loved them and how happy they made me. Darlings, if I had enough time to sit and reply to you all properly I would but such are the horros of being a working girl le sigh But you do all know that I love y'all, right?

Anywho, here's the next installment for ya! Enjoy!

**Chapter 19 (part 1).**

He lunged at her. Before any of them could stop him, even if they had felt inclined to. His body surged towards her sat smugly and comfortably upon the medical cot, releasing all of his pent up anguish and tension and power, and her expression changed in a flash to wide-eyed fear.

Satisfaction tingled in the back of his brain in the split second that it took for his hands to find their mark and reach her throat, slamming her head back onto the mattress as his weight landed on top of her, pinning her down.

No way was she going to talk her way out of death this time. No way would he let her smile her seditious smile and charm them into sparing her miserable life. They should have killed her a long time age. For everything that she had done and said and insinuated. For everything that she and her people had put them through. For everything.

Only hazily aware of the curses snarled and snarling from his own lips, Sawyer didn't hear the shouts from his own companions, their demands that he stop what he was doing, until Sayid's arms, strong and unrelenting, hooked beneath his armpits from behind and yanked him backwards and away from where he had slowly been choking the life from the suddenly blue-faced Other.

"_Bitch_!" he roared again, struggling so hard that Sayid alone couldn't restrain the incensed southerner and both Locke and Michael had to wrap their arms about him and force him backwards. And he almost dragged the three of them, he was so full of fury and adrenalin and hate, but they merely held him and struggled against his violence until the strength ran right out of his limbs, making them heavy and unyielding.

"Leave it, Sawyer!" Mike soothed, through gritted teeth and exertion alike. He ushered Walt out of the doorway into the long hallway and forced his furious companion with him. "Take it easy, Man. Calm down. She's just-"

"Get the hell off me!" Sawyer barked back, shrugging the three men off him and turning his back upon them all. Upon them and Nora. Fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. He could hear Nora laughing again back inside the room and he almost turned to charge back in there and finish the job that he'd started. He didn't, however, focusing his anger instead upon Michael who was following him like a shadow with a chary glare, almost as if he expected Sawyer to attempt to give him the slip and go at their prisoner again. "Don't you dare tell me to calm down, Mike! Don't you fckin' dare!" he growled dangerously and his blue eyes met and clashed with Mike's deep brown, showing the hurt that scored deep within him. The fury brought on by Nora's words about Ana. Brought on by his own guilt at discovering that all his attempts to keep Ana-Lucia safe and from harms way had simply served to put her even further and irreparably into danger's path.

Michael gave Sawyer's shoulder a pat and nodded his understanding.

"Sure, Man. No worries…Why don't you, me and Walt go check on Eko and those other kids?"

Sawyer could only nod his accordance as Sayid and Locke returned inside to Nora.

-oOo-

They had stood together, sharing a smile and a drink and a joke at the expense of their partners. For once in their bizarre acquaintance seeing eye-to-eye. For once they had come close to friendship…or at least as close to friendship as the pair of them were likely to come considering everything that had occurred between them and their respective partners in the past four months or so since the crash.

Ana-Lucia had shaken her head in amusement at Kate's words. Kate had laughed out loud at Ana-Lucia's response and yet even as they had done so, the noise that suddenly rose and wove around them, wiped the joviality from their faces in a heartbeat, sending them skittering sideways and out of the jungle onto the darkening sand, like a pair of spooked horses.

It curled and writhed about them, in eddies and waves, sending their hands back to their 'holstered' weapons and drawing them out once more. Causing them to spin in tandem, like a pair of dancers, each instinctively watching the other's back as they searched for any signs of the source of the whispers. Eyes wide. Trying to keep the panic from making their motions shaky and inefficient.

"Shit, they're coming!" Kate swore with a hiss over her shoulder at Ana-Lucia's back and her companion nodded her accordance with that statement, lips set into a grip line. There was determination in her frown as she stepped out onto the shadowy beach further and Kate followed her magnetically.

"The lights failing too fast. Pretty soon we won't be able to see two feet in front of out own faces!" Ana agreed, growling low in response to her counterpart's observations. Her fingers released their grip about the butt of her handgun to arrange themselves into a better hold upon the weapon. "We can't wait." Her eyes caught Kate's, seeing her own concern mirrored there in the deep jade. "We have to take them all and go now! There's no more time left. Shit!" she mimicked Kate's curse, inky hair whipping out about her shoulders as her head snapped around, trying to glean if there was any sights of the Others yet.

"We'll have to tell them all to run for it." Kate stated sadly, desperately, trying to see a way out even as she spoke her words. She knew deep down that most of the group of thirty or so who stood huddled together a little way further down the beach would likely not make it more than a few hundred steps into the jungle that had suddenly turned black as if it were mirroring their dark circumstances.

Ana, however, shook her head. She couldn't forsake all those people. She couldn't tell them al to run for the hatch and hope for the best. She couldn't' simply leave them to their fate. There had to be another way. There was another way!

"No," she placed her hand on Kate's arm, her one time enemy's arm and halted her motions from where she had been heading towards the group of people who were depending on the pair of them to keep them safe.

Deep brown eyes met with confused emerald green and Kate opened her mouth to protest but Ana cut her off, tone low and fast as she moved them towards their charged slower than either of them felt comfortable with, though it gave them more time to talk out their options.

"Not all of us are going to make it if we run," she ignored Kate's irate exclamation that she knew that and pressed on, turning their backs to the ever watching jungle, though to do so went against all her training as a police officer. "The caves. We need to get them to the caves. Into the back of them so we can-"

"Create a bottle neck!" Kate finished, catching onto Ana's train of thought with a grim smile. "It could work. At least then we only have to worry about them coming at us from one direction."

"Exactly." Ana concluded with a stolen glance over their shoulders at the trees.

And suddenly her mind reeled backwards to the previous night, blocking out Kate's murmured words at her side. To the words that image of Sawyer had spoken to her as he'd shown her the compass cradled in his wide palm.

_-Flashback-_

_Ana's brows knit together in confusion and she blinked several times to try and clear her gaze, trying to make the image before her make more sense to her confused brain. _

_"Sawyer-" she started to speak, shooting him a wary stare and releasing his wrist to pull away from him slightly, but like the other times before he interrupted her. Harsh blue eyes suddenly chilling, making her shiver almost as much as his words did. _

_"Watch it. Watch it move." he spoke, voice so low that it made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle and stand on end. _

_It's golden needle, glinting in the faint moonlight as it spun first north, then east, then south west and north again. It wasn't spinning like a compass disrupted by a magnet should. It was jerking, like the hand of a clock gone awry. _

_North, west, east, north east, west, south east, north. _

_On and on it went, ticking faster and faster and yet in motions more and mort stilted and disjointed. _

_The unease had risen icily into her chest, clutching like a skeletal hand about her heart and constricting it, making the beat erratic. She fought hard against the urge to step back from Sawyer and turn tail and run, but her feet remained in that one spot, glued there whether by fear or some force unknown. She didn't even knew why she felt so terribly anxious. It was only a compass. A broken one at that…wasn't it? _

_"Watch it, Ana-Lucia. Watch out for it. For them. All directions. Every direction. Gotta watch out for them, Ana-Lucia."_

_-End Flashback-_

She almost smiled and chuckled to herself. She would have if they hadn't currently been in so much danger but her soundless snorts of suppressed mirth still drew Kate's stare up and to her face once more.

"What's so funny?" the brunette at her shoulder queried, giving Ana a sidelong look as if she feared that the Latino woman was losing the plot and at the worst possible moment too.

Ana shook her head and snorted again.

"Sawyer was right after all." She mumbled, more to herself than the woman who had asked the question. An incredulous and yet still somehow knowing smile creeping up her lips. Sawyer had been right, even if it hadn't been the real Sawyer.

"He was right about what?" Kate questioned her again, wrinkling her nose in confusion, but Ana took a hold of her arm again, at the elbow, and spurred them forwards, faster now and closer to their destination.

"We get through this night, Kate," Ana responded determined now as some of the survivors started to notice their approach. "And I'll gladly tell you the whole crazyass story!"

-oOo-


	23. Chapter 19 part 2

Looks sheepish for how long it's taken to update

I'm guessing a sorry won't cover it, huh? But I am sorry! Here's that next half of chapter 19. Just one more and an epilogue to go y'know? Not far now!

Hope you like!

Disclaimer: Me no owny! 

**Chapter 19 (part 2).**

They found the room with the other captive children easily. Eko had opened the door and swept them both up into his strong, protective embrace and that was how Sawyer, Michael and Walt found them.

Walt grinned widely and waved at his fellow youngsters towering above him in Eko's grasp until they both wiggled, as politely as possible, to be put down and began an intensive, entirely whispered conversation in a huddled group.

"Well, at least someone's havin' a good time…" Sawyer murmured from the doorway, hitching a thumb at the circle of kids and Michael and Eko both turned to face him, not entirely sure if the Southerner was likely to turn tail back out of the door and have another crack at strangling their prisoner.

As if he sensed as much, Sawyer leaned off the doorframe and raised his hands in the gesture of surrender, eyebrows leaping up his forehead, before brushing past them both to sit leaning against the far wall of the small room.

And they waited. Patiently and un-patiently alike. Michael pacing, tugging as his stubbled beard. Eko standing stoic and motionless, like a great statue guarding the children. Sawyer drummed a knuckle against the hard, cold concrete floor until the skin, drawn taut across the bone, broke drawing a crimson smear of blood, and he moved onto the next knuckle to start the process again.

They weren't kept waiting long, however, and all three men sprang to attention, up to his feet in Sawyer's case, at the sound of the steel door at the other end of the corridor outside opening and then locking again behind the two sets of footsteps that exited.

Nora was left inside then, and perhaps that was a good thing, Sawyer thought. He wouldn't be responsible for his actions next time he came face-to-face with her and not four men nor four hundred would be able to hold him back and keep his hands from her throat, that was for sure!

Locke was the first to enter, looking tired, more worn than the conman had ever seen the seemingly indomitable hunter ever before in their whole crazy time on 'Twilight Zone Island'. His arms cradled rolls of paper and beneath his armpit a leather bound presentation folder of some kind took residence. Sawyer guessed that they'd been scavenged from one of the other rooms along the length of walk way constituting the bizarre length of pseudo laboratory come hatch.

Sayid followed behind. A little slower and more comfortable than Locke's quick step. His dark brows furrowed as he gazed down at his own maps, stolen from the French woman, Rousseau, once more as he too entered the suddenly crowded room. He tugged at his lower lip with the fingers of his free hand, hunching his shoulders and back in both concentration and against his companions' curious stares.

Silence continued as neither of the pair made any move to explain what had happened or why they both looked so studious and serious.

Mike and Eko shared a glance at each other but it was Sawyer, ever the diplomat, who broke through the thick quiet first. Finally and brashly.

"I'm goin' back!" he stated to them all and no one had to even ponder about what exactly he was talking about. His voice was staunch enough for them to know immediately what he meant. "I'm gonna get outta these tunnels and run all night if I damn well have to an' I'm gonna kill every last sonofabitch who even _dares_ think they're gonna lay a hand on _my_ woman!" he was growling now. Snarling out his words through fury clenched teeth. Anger re-awoken coursed through his body like ice-water and hate mingling with the blood and adrenalin already in his veins.

All of their faces watched him now, wondering what he would do next, wondering what he would snarl out next. Even the children and one of them, the little girl (Emma did Ana say her name was?) slipped her hand into his, stopping it from it's continuous clenching and unclenching.

"Ana's okay…she's strong." She smiled vacantly up at him, as if she had just woken from a dream…or was still underneath its vestiges from the glassy look in her eyes. Was she seeing something that he wasn't? "That's why Alex chose her."

Sawyer opened his mouth to make some sarcastic remark, not caring that the girl was all of eleven years old, but Locke interrupted him, his eerie smile returning at what was possibly the most inappropriate time. It drew Sawyer's eyebrows together into a bemused frown.

"I don't think that Ana-Lucia would appreciate being given the title of '_your woman'_, James…but I had an inkling that you'd want to go back because of her." His tone was bright and cheerful, as if he and Sawyer were merely discussing the weather.

"Well aren't _you _the all seeing-eye." Sawyer snorted beneath his breath. He ran his free hand, the other still held comfortingly by Emma, through his bedraggled hair, sweeping it out of his eyes and away from his face so that he could better turn his glare upon the bald man to his left.

Locke's smile lanced sideways into an almost smirk before he wagged a finger in Sayid's direction.

"Why don't you show him the maps, Sayid?" he queried enigmatically and Sawyer suddenly came to the conclusion that no matter how hard he tried, he was never going to be able to figure out John Locke. Ever.

Their Iraqi companion glanced up from his maps, as if being interrupted in the middle of a daydream, but he nodded dutifully and beckoned for Sawyer's attention with a brief wave of the hand not smoothing down his beard.

"Do you recall that Shannon and I were unable to discern the meaning of this particular map?" his dark eyes flashed up to meet with Sawyer's and, upon noticing the blank seriousness there on the usually dimpled and grinning face showing that the Southerner was in no mood for questions or recollections, he hurried on, clearing his throat as he did so. "I understand them now. I know what exactly they are a map of-"

"The tunnels!" Locke injected excitedly, drawing a slight glare from Sayid, disgruntled at being beaten to the punch-line.

"Indeed." He muttered. "I assumed as much when Nora was leading us here. I vaguely remembered the layout from somewhere and when I looked over this map again, I understood immediately." He paused, gripping Sawyer's shoulder as he peered down onto the yellowing paper and he dared a triumphant grin. "We can make it back to the other hatch, our hatch, by morning…if we leave now and if we run the majority of the distance."

Sawyer stared down at it blankly for a long, extended heartbeat, before trailing the black line upon the page that linked the Hawk and the Swan together. He tapped his finger upon their new destination. Once. Twice. Almost as if doing so could warn the people there.

And suddenly he nodded. Drew back. Patted Emma on the head before freeing his hand from her clasp and staring at all of their faces.

"Well, alright." A semblance of his usual cocky grin ghosted across his features then and he nearly became the Sawyer that they all knew so well. "When do we leave, General?"

Sayid returned the blonde man's smile with one of his own before his mouth once more became a grim line.

"There is a possibility, from what Nora told us, that we could run into her companions on their way back from attacking them beach…" he let his comment lie until Sawyer had nodded his comprehension. "We cannot risk taking the children that way."

Again Sawyer nodded, turning his eyes to Eko and Michael but it was, once more, Locke who broke into the silence unannounced.

"I found more maps." He stated plainly. "In the desk draw in another room, along with some information about what they are trying to accomplish here with the children-"

"_Were_." Michael corrected with a growl, holding Walt closer to him subconsciously perhaps and Locke blinked pale blue, squinted eyes at him in surprise until he shook himself from his silence and nodded.

"Yes, yes. Of course. Were. What they _were_ trying to do. Anyway, it seems as if there are more of these buildings, these underground complexes dotted all across the island…two of which in particular Sayid and I find quite…_interesting_." His tanned, scarred hands placed his own maps beside Sayid's and a forefinger smoothed across it to tap on an outward jutting peninsular of land to the left of their current position. "The Gull." He announced proudly, glancing up at Michael in particular as he spoke. "The closest hatch to where we are now and, judging from it's proximity to the ocean, I'm betting it's the harbour."

"Using their vessel will give you safe passage back to the beach, Michael. All you need do is follow the coastline." Sayid added and the father sent a considering look over his shoulder to Eko, asking silently the other man's views on the idea. Could they chance it? Was it a good idea to take the children out on the sea?

"You're sure it'll be safe, Man?" Mike queried and Sayid nodded again.

"It is the safest way for you to return. What with the Others travelling by land. On the sea there shall be no risk or worry of you coming into contact with them. It may take you a few extra days to make it back to the beach but it is, by far, the less perilous road to take." The Iraqi concluded and Michael's face became more sure, more certain as he nodded his approval.

"Whatever gets us home safely, Man."

"Alright then," Sawyer barked over them. They could tell that he was desperate to be on the more, heading back towards Ana. "Daddy Cool and Shaft get stuck babysittin' Alvin and the Chipmunks here," he waved a hand in the direction of the three children for emphasis. "So that leaves me, Action Man and Elmer Fudd here to get our skates on an' head back to the-"

"Actually Sawyer…" Locke interrupted once more suddenly, halting the blonde man in his stride, already pacing towards the exit anxiously. "I'm not going with you either. Any of you."

Sawyer's eyebrows leaped up his forehead, threatening to disappear into his hairline.

"Come again, Chief?" he chuckled humourlessly. "What? You ain't switchin' sides mid-battle now are ya?" he squared his shoulders to face the older man once more, bringing himself to his full height and anticipating Locke's next words. Surely he wasn't going to stay and join the Others now…was he? "You seemed mighty int'rested in them notes They made there…" he wagged a finger at the binder still secured beneath Locke's armpit, letting his accusatory comment, laced deceivingly with a joke, tingle in the air about them.

The children, who had previously resumed their hushed chatter in a huddled circle all paused, falling silent as the two men faced one another. Facing off.

And Locke had the good manners to look appalled by Sawyer's insinuation, nstead of grinning like a loony as he usually did.

"Don't be ridiculous!" he stated in what was as close to a scoff as John Locke came to giving. "I'm heading west from here. To the Eagle…or as Danielle Rousseau would call it, the Radio Tower." Pale blue eyes flashed from a creased, sun scorched face, meeting the darker, night blue of Sawyer's still dubious watch. "I'm going to get us off this island, James. I'm going to call for help."

-oOo- 

She could feel the sweat trickling down her back in tandem with the panic that she was just managing to suppress so that it was merely a dull thrum in her body. She couldn't afford to let it overtake her now, overwhelm her when there was so much at stake. So many lives…

She shifted her knees, that were beginning to ache, against he silty ground of the cave mouth. Handgun raised and trained upon the bushes and scrub and trees surrounding them, fencing them in, cornering them in the darkness. Damn, but they could have really used a fire right then, but no one had any matches or a lighter or even the time to make one. They'd have to make do.

She tightened her grip on the weapon and swallowed hard, shooting a brief, sideways glance over at her companion on the other side of the cave mouth, levelling a rifle upon the same target that Ana was.

The night was still. Darker than they had seen it or noticed it to be before, although that was most likely only because of their nervousness, their expectation of what was coming for them. Who. And what was going to happen.

Kate nodded as she noted Ana's pensive stare and readjusted her hold on the rifle.

_'My Dad, well, the man who raised me, not my biological father, use to take me hunting when I was growing up. I'm a better shot with a rifle than anything else.'_ The slight brunette had told Ana when they had been dividing up the meagre, too few weapons between them. Three hand guns'. Two rifles. That was all.

'_I'm best with a handgun.' _Ana had responded to Kate's offered personal information, ignoring the slight guilt that swelled in her heart when the memories of her shooting of Shannon swelled up to prove just how right that statement was. _'I was a cop before…this. Been on the force since I left school…my Mom died when I was little because of some stupid guy who chose to run with the wrong side of the law and I wanted to do something about it…so I became a cop.'_

And Kate had nodded in reply, as Ana had done for her admission, as they passed out the remaining weapons to a couple of men who vaguely knew how to hold and fire a gun. It was their only chance after all…

"You ready for this, Chica?" Ana cleared her throat and called across the small distance of dimness between them suddenly, snapping her mind away from her distracting memories and fixing her gaze back out onto the shadowy jungle firmly.

And Kate snorted, shifting nervously in her spot.

"Nope." She responded in a deceivingly cheerful tone. She re-aimed her rifle though, contrasting her words with her actions. "But I don't think that's going to stop Them just because _I'm_ not ready."

Ana-Lucia laughed at that and nodded her head in amused agreement. Touché, Katherine.

"How about you?"

"Nope." Ana echoed with a sideways smirk that Kate was certain the Latino woman had learned from Sawyer. "But I guess we're just going to have to deal, huh?"

"I guess we are…"

-oOo- 

"So…" Sawyer drawled as he and Sayid shouldered their packs and weapons, ready for the journey ahead of them. "What's gonna happen to the Wicked Bitch of the West back I there?" he avoided the groups eyes as he hitched a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of Walt's old prison room and Sayid and Locke exchanged concerned glances. "Don't y'all worry none, Fellas. I ain't suggestin' we get _trigger happy _on her ass…but we can't risk havin' her runnin' round and messin' things up for us more 'an she already has!"

"And I don't think we should take her with us." Mike added, nodding in agreement with Sawyer's words. "I don't trust her around the kids."

"We can leave her here. Locked in one of the rooms." Locke put forwards with a shrug and a brief wave of his hand. "Her colleagues are bound to discover her when they return." But Eko was already shaking his head with a grim frown on his features.

"We should_ burn _this place…so that the experiments cannot be continued by anyone. We should destroy it all!" he announced in his deep, baritone, booming voice, Zack and Emma standing as close to him as the could. They obviously felt protected by him.

Both Michael and Sayid murmured their approval and even though a brief flash of regret danced across Locke's face at the thought of destroying all of the research and notes before they had gotten the chance to read and understand them, he nodded. Grudgingly.

"Fine." He muttered, smoothing a hand over his mouth and jaw. "So we burn it. What about Nora? I do not want her blood on my hands if she gets caught in the fire before the Others return…or if the don't find her." He shrugged at them all, as if challenging them to come up with something, some better notion to relieve them all of their burden, but they all remained silent, drawing a newly triumphant smile across his thin lips…

…Until it was that Sawyer found himself grinning like a Cheshire cat, even chuckling to himself eliciting their stares of curiosity.

"You fellas remember that _tree_ that she went an' climbed up 'fore we came down here…?"

-oOo- 

Eko stayed behind to give them a head start before he lit the fire and closed the rusty, corroding door of the Hawk upon it. It did not take him long to catch up.

They made the journey back to the tunnel entrance in less time than their first, bizarrely. Nora most certainly had been stalling for time for some reason then. Possibly to ensure that none of them would make it back to the beach before the Others had attacked. They obviously had not wanted any chance of them interfering and Sawyer found himself hoping desperately, beyond all hope, that Nora's plan hadn't succeeded.

She screamed in fury when Sayid tied her to the tree. She raged and struggled and kicked and fought…until she tired herself out and the Iraqi man finally gagged her to keep her quiet.

Hate shone clear in her dark eyes as she watched them moving and talking quietly together. She glared at them and seethed in silence. Humiliated. The tables finally turned, she no longer held their attention. She no longer controlled them with her threats and taunts and jibes.

Locke was the first of their merry band to head out. Taking off in a westerly direction, uphill towards the mountains. He wished them all luck with a smile and a nod and to Sawyer he grinned.

"Keep a hold on that girl of yours, James." He stated and something akin to regret passed over his face like a dark cloud…but only for a moment. "Keep her safe."

And Sawyer laughed, hitching his backpack a little higher and hooking his thumbs through his belt loops.

"You got it all wrong, Chrome Dome." He snorted, flashing white teeth a the older man. "I'm goin' back so _she_ can keep _me _safe!"

Locke departed still chuckling at the Southerner's words.

Michael, Eko and the children headed off next, with Mike embracing both Sayid and Sawyer, wishing them both speed and luck.

Eko merely smile and nodded to them and promised to keep them in his prayers, along with Ana and the rest of their community back at the beach.

The kids, standing in a line, hands clasped, only watched with glazed expressions until the two adults ushered them in their chosen direction to the east…towards the sea.

Only then, when Sawyer and Sayid were alone, save for the muffled struggles of Nora Hewmot in the background, sis the two one time enemies glance at each other.

"Boy. You better know where the _hell_ it is that we're goin'…" Sawyer growled in mock gruffness. "'Cause I ain't got the damnedest!"

"Just you be concerned with keeping pace." Sayid countered, his features becoming amused, or as amused as the soldier could be, and together they re-entered the tunnels, leaving Nora alone in the night without a second glance or thought.

-oOo- 

He strode out of the undergrowth amid the darkness and whispers like a king onto his battlefield, as if he owned it all and perhaps he did. It had always been Their island after all.

He was Agammemnon at the battle of Troy. Hannibal at Carthage. Alexander the Great staking his claim on the entire world…or just over them, the people that he wanted so desperately huddled and crowding together in the back of a cave.

They hadn't seen him yet. They didn't know where They were, where They were coming from. He watched in amusement as their heads turned every which way, listening fearfully to the sounds of hisses and whispers crescendo-ing around them.

"Leave the men!" he balled over the noise that was their strongest weapon. "Shoot them if they get in your way." His voice was deep and gruff and soared above the clash of sound around him. "Take the women…and kill Ana-Lucia Cortez!"

-oOo- 

Sorry for the cliffhanger! ;p 


	24. Chapter 20

GAH! Lookie-lookie! The penultimate chapter and my favourite out of them by far!

Thanks all for your continuing lovely, gorgeous reviews, I do love them so and they make me smile (like this ---> XD )

I really hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it...though to be fair, I had the most part of it penned out months ago!

I'll be quiet now and let you get reading. You get both parts in one posting today so no waiting like I usually make you do!

Enjoy!

**Chapter 20.**

"Damn it, Aladdin, what the _hell_ you been _eatin'_!" Sawyer hissed and groaned beneath his companion's weight. His hands cupped together to create a makeshift stirrup for Sayid to step into and lever himself up to the small trapdoor in the tunnel ceiling above them.

"Maybe if you concentrate less on _talking_ and inventing new _nicknames_ for me then you wouldn't be having such a _problem_!" Sayid snarled in return, his voice contorted with the effort it was taking to open the damn thing. He thumped it once, twice, three times sending a dull pounding ricocheting through the tunnel around them and grit and dirt from the roof down showering them both in filth.

Sawyer gritted his teeth, grinding them together against the strain.

"I hope you're right about this bein' the place…" he countered through his locked jaw but Sayid either did not hear him through his absorption in his task, or chose diplomatically to ignore the Southerner.

Exhaustion from their frantic dash through the night was obvious in both of their short tempers and ragged breathing but eventually, just as Sawyer's arms began to shake, threatening to give way underneath the pressure and send Sayid crashing down on top of him, a metallic groaning noise sounded from somewhere that Sawyer couldn't see over his head and Sayid hefted himself up into the hatch that they were supposedly right beneath.

Sawyer found himself hoping beyond all hope that they were in the right place, that Sayid's maps had come through for them, leading where they wanted to go and not into enemy territory as he had feared throughout most of the night.

Despite his trepidation, relief was coursing through his aching limbs at the weight removed and he paused for a split second to bask in it…until the urgency of their mission pounded back into his mind, forcing it's way there and he reached up to find Sayid's hand outstretched and waiting to pull him up.

Stunned faces ringed them both, peering down at them with wide, startled eyes and whispering between themselves. A nervous electricity ran through the room, that suddenly Sawyer recognised as the living area of their hatch, the swan, once he'd gained his bearings and stood dusting his hands on the seat of his pants. He'd have to remember to thank Sayid after all this was over…and perhaps give him another new nickname as a _'thank you'_.

Hope swelled up again in his chest suddenly followed swiftly by a sense of liberation. They were there. The other survivors from the beach. Ana had gotten them there safely. She'd obviously seen the visions that Walt and the other two kids had talked about back in the Hawk. He'd always known she was a smart-ass, but now she'd gone and proved it!

"Sayid!" the familiar voice, calling out desperately disturbed Sawyer's thoughts and the smirk that had been growing upon his lips, curling them upwards towards his returning dimples.

"Shannon!" Sayid replied, the relief audible in his tone as he whipped his head around, searching for her face amidst the crowd, ignoring the thousands of questions being hurled their way.

What were they doing there?

Where were the others from the rescue party?

Where the Others really coming?

Shannon shoved her way, a little less than politely, through the congregation until she slammed into Sayid's waiting arms and wound her long, slim, tanned arms around his neck as if she thought he might disappear back down the hole they'd come through at any minute.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" she breathed, closing her amber eyes against the tears of jubilation that welled there. "I'm so glad you're back!"

Sayid returned her fervent embrace just as fiercely and the gathering of people around the trio slowly and reluctantly dispersed seeing that they were not likely to be getting any answers anytime soon.

Sawyer smothered a smile at the couple's reunion and instead sent his gaze around the packed room, hoping to find the face of the survivor that he knew the best, that he was the most hungry to see again. His eyes scanned around, over heads and at faces that he knew well but was not seeking. His blue eyes searched faster and faster, the panic again rising clawingly in his chest, his heart sinking.

He couldn't see her. He couldn't find her.

She wasn't there. Again. Was this just a repeat performance of the day that he had disappeared on the rescue mission, leaving her behind? Was she really still angry at him? She couldn't be…could she?

"Sawyer…" Shannon's voice, slightly muffled by Sayid's embrace, interrupted his disappointment. The heartbroken quaver in her tone making his stomach almost plunge down to his feet.

_Oh no…oh god, no, please!_

"Where is she?" he demanded gruffly, spinning to glare at the young woman. "_Where_!" his demand rose in volume as apprehension and anger and horror mingled there. He paced closer to her, covering the few steps that separated them, searching her face and wide, tear-filled eyes for the truth that he didn't want to see, didn't want to know…and yet had to.

Was he too late after all? Had she really been stolen from him before he could make it right between them again?

Shannon's eyes held his until the anguish and intensity of his dark blue stare made her turn her face down to the bare concrete of the floor. She cleared her throat, clogged with upset and took a deep, wavering breath, readying herself to speak.

"I wanted to go with her…" she murmured, eyebrows quirking upwards as guilty tears threatened to fall. "She wouldn't let me…She and Kate went back to et the last group of people at the beach…" she fell silent for an agonisingly long moment as Sayid kissed the top of her head comfortingly, holding her close, no doubt relieved that Ana had made her stay in the safety of the hatch. "They haven't come back…"

He stood staring at the blonde woman before him for all of a split second, a heartbeat, mouth gaping as his muddled and terrified mind ran over her words and all of the worst case scenarios that could have befallen Ana-Lucia.

Sayid was speaking to him, but he couldn't understand or hear even. The Iraqi was gripping Sawyer firmly by the shoulder but the Southern Conman wasn't aware at all.

And then, though the haze of devastation and sickness coiling like a cold snake in his stomach, Sawyer remembered the words of the little girl they'd rescued. Emma.

_'Ana's okay…she's strong.'_

And he believed it.

Clenching his jaw tight, dropping everything, even his weapons, Sawyer took off at a furious, pelting run again, mindless of his tired, protesting limbs and burning lungs desperate for oxygen and the need to breathe. Past the still bewildered stares of his fellow survivors. Ignoring the shouts and calls of Sayid and Jack who had been pacing anxiously at the hatch's entrance like a cages tiger.

He broke through into the jungle, not caring if anyone followed him or if the Others were still out there. It was better for him if they were, that way he could kill them all easier.

He had to find her. She was strong and she was the smartest person he knew, had ever known. She'd want to protect the group in her custody. She'd lead them somewhere that she could keep them safe.

The caves.

-oOo-

He ran and he ran for what seemed forever. For days, weeks, months, years…or maybe just the ten minutes that it took him to reach the caves in the slowly brightening light of dawn.

No one was there in the jungle surrounding his destination. No whispers seeping out towards him in warning that the Others were there or coming. Perhaps they hadn't got there yet…perhaps they hadn't been coming at all and Nora Hewmot had just been one crazy, deranged bitch that liked to be the centre of everyone's attention.

Sawyer slowed from his run into a jog and then a walk as he glanced about, searching for any signs of ambush as he broke through finally and slowly into the clearing about the mouth of the cave entrance.

And then he saw her and relief bloomed in his chest, swelling there and growing to curl his lips into a smile, any thoughts of the Others and danger long since forgotten…until his eyes truly took in the scene before him.

Her gun was grasped deathly tight in her force white fists, as if it was the very thing that was keeping her alive, kept the breath in her lungs and the beat in her heart. She turned back and forth, frantically, terrified. He could see the body of someone, was that Scott or Steve, several paces to her left, bullet between his eyes, no doubt dead and perhaps the better for it judging from the fear that tainted the air. He could see the slick crimson coating her left shoulder, the one nearest to him and the dark stain seeping down from her left thigh as well. She was hit and she was hurt and the thought of both of those notions combined made him grit his teeth in anger and possessive fury. No one but no one was permitted to touch her, let alone bring harm to her in any way. No one was allowed to do such things and if they did, as they had, he was going to hunt them down and hurt them in ways that they couldn't even imagine, in ways that he himself couldn't even imagine just yet, he was too fury-stricken.

Slowly, as the red haze of anger receded from his veins just enough so that he could think straight, he forced his body into a stunted step forwards, rustling the bush about him, twigs snapping beneath his feet, intent on reaching her and making sure that she was alright.

And she spun directly to face him, locking her eyes onto his, wide with both fear and surprise and recognition, even as her finger compressed the trigger of her gun, firing it before she had a chance to halt her reflex actions.

Sawyer's stride faltered and he glanced down at his own belly, hands splayed and pressed there in his own reaction to her aim and shot.

He laughed lightly, braving a dimpled grin flashed up at her before he glanced back down again, peeling his hands from where they were putting pressure, finger by finger. Agonisingly slow.

"Sawyer-I-" her throat constricted, cutting her words short from the torrent of emotions suddenly raging through her like the blood thundering in her ears. Her hands began to shake and she hurled the gun away from her as if it had scalded her, stumbling her own way towards him until she could reach out and touch him if she wanted. If the desire took a hold of her.

Sawyer loosed another bark of laughter suddenly and Ana felt tears sting at the corners of her eyes. She felt sick and cold and it started in her gut, squirming it's way up into her throat as the taste of bile and acid and guilt and horror.

She'd shot him! She just shot the man she lo-

-oOo-

Her dreams were fitful and dark. She tossed and turned, every part of her body on fire with pain. Every inch of her skin drenched in sweat from the sheer exertion it took to keep her in the land of the living, even if she was not conscious any more.

Her sleep was not restful, instead troubled and plagued by nightmares that terrified her more than anything in her life ever had. Striking her deep, to her very core.

Nightmares of the darkness about her, and noises and screams as the Others, their faces blank and unseen by her, charged at her, tried to kill her, and she gunned them down in return to save her friends, the people, innocent people who didn't deserve any of this. The people she had sworn to protect.

And then, out of the shadows came his face. Familiar and beautiful to her then in that brief split second of surreal-ness…

…And she woke with a start.

She knew what had happened!

-oOo-

"Sawyer!" his name left her parched throat in the form of an anguished sob, even before her eyes had forced themselves open and free from the hazy veil of sleep that had covered her and made her negligent of her surroundings.

She fought the pain that flared throughout her entire body, struggling to sit upright and take stock of her whereabouts, blinking blearily.

Where the hell was she? Surely not still in the jungle, before the caves? Had the Others taken her? Was she their captive now?...Was she dead?

Unable to force her body upright as the agony overwhelmed her, Ana-Lucia lay back down, finding her resting place soft and clean and not the jungle floor where she had fallen defending the caves and the survivors huddled together inside for safety.

Her fingers smoothed against the blankets, beneath her and covering her. She blinked a little harder, swallowing the pain and tears that had risen chokingly in her throat. Threatening to force their way past her lips and defences.

She tried to sit up again suddenly. Desperation driving her now as she called out again, as loud as she could with her hoarse throat/

"Sawyer!"

Silence met her in reply once more and the stinging of upset grew more fierce in the corners of her eyes.

She'd shot him! She pulled the trigger and shot him exactly the same way that she had Shannon. Without a second thought she'd spun and aimed and fired directly, thinking he was one of Them. Consumed by her fear and her need, her desire to save them all.

Where was he? Was he injured badly…? Was he…dead?

The first sob that clawed it's way from her strangled throat fell out into the dark air around her indistinctly. Pain flaring from her injuries, one in her shoulder and one further down her body, her leg she presumed, up her nerves to her muzzy brain.

The second sob broke the surface with a little more volume, claiming Sawyer's name as it ripped itself from her tongue.

And the following cried only increased until they reached a fevered pitch, the hurt in her limbs drowned by that burning through her chest, searing her heart almost in two. She almost didn't notice the door swing open and light stream in, forcing her eyes closed once more against her will.

"It's alright, Ana. Shhhh. Calm down. You need to stay calm."

Jack. That was his voice, somewhere above her and cold fingers pressed themselves upon her forehead.

"Keep still or you're going to rip the stitches I made to close your wounds." He continued, hands moving again as he spoke. "Kate!" he bellowed over his shoulder, the noise making Ana's head throb again. "Kate, I need you in here!"

Ana tried, attempting to open her eyes and ignore the pain stabbing into them from the sudden light, fending Jack's hands from their inspection. Trying to regain his attention.

"Where…where is he? Where's Sawyer?" she croaked up at him, the panic making her chest tight and her breathing fast and unsteady. "Is he dead?" she stammered, squinting up into his blurred face and she managed to catch a hold of one of his wrists with her hands. "He can't be dead. Tell me he isn't!"

"Dead, Chica?" the Southern drawl from the doorway served to halt them both in the conflicting movements abruptly. Turning their faces away from each other and to the silhouette of a man stood leant against the doorframe, lit from behind by the dim light of the hatch living area. "Not by a long shot. You can't get rid of me _that_ easy, Puddin'. Don't you remember what happened?" he paused, waiting for a response from her but she was too stunned, too disbelieving and so he continued. "Look at you!" he growled playfully. "I'm gone _two minutes _to go take a leak an' you go an' wake up when I'm gone. Nice, Sugar, _real_ nice!"

Ana struggled to sit upright again, fighting away both Jack's restricting hands that were trying to keep her down and his verbal protests at her moving too much. Eventually, with the doctor's reluctant assistance, she managed to prop her head up enough to see him properly, though her head swam, a little woozy at the sudden movements and it exhausted her so.

And Sawyer crossed the distance between them in three long, purposeful strides, causing Jack to mutter something about his check up being disturbed and shift backwards out of the blonde man's way.

Ana blinked harder, forcing her tears of relief and confusion into submission, still semi disbelieving of what she was seeing before her. Of who.

Sawyer's face, grinning with his own relief came into focus suddenly as he took occupation of the chair by her bedside, sitting as near as was physically possible without him actually climbing onto the bed next to her. His hand moved up to cup her face, smoothing tangled, sweat-drenched ebony locks from where they clung to her forehead and neck and cheeks, betraying the fever that her body was fighting to break.

"I…I…shot you…" she coughed, swallowing hard again and taking deep breaths to keep her emotions in check. "I turned and I aimed and I-" her treacherous throat constricted suddenly, halting any and all sound coming from her and she reach out to him with the hand of her uninjured arm, still wincing in pain at the motion, to touch his face, testing reality.

And finally, her fragmented memory came back to her as the last vestiges of grogginess trickled from her.

-oOo-

_(Flashback)_

_"Hoo boy!" Sawyer shouted out to the jungle canopy above, waggling the fingers of his now raised hands before her and she frowned in confusion at the lack of blood there. She'd just fired a gun at him point blank. Her aim was perfect. She never missed. "Someone up there still loves me!" he continued and before she could ask what he meant, before her hands could reach his middle and inspect for bullet wounds herself, his large, blood-free palms settled either side of her face, fingers curling about the sides of her face, into her matted hair, thumbs smoothing their pads across her cheeks as if he couldn't quite believe he was touching her again. Eyes scoured her face, the curve of her cheeks, the sweep of her brow, her bruised and bloodied chin, back to her eyes. His hand moved again, brushing back hair from her forehead, wiping blood from her chin and tears that she hadn't realised had been falling, from her cheeks and then his mouth was upon hers. In an instant. A mere heartbeat. A breath. Kissing her as if she were the very air he needed to live, pulling her to him, holding her so tight it hurt and she could taste the relief on his tongue._

_She was alive and so was he, apparently._

_Her gun had been empty. It hadn't been a gunshot they'd heard. It had been the click of an unoccupied chamber. The hammer hitting air instead of the metal of a bullet jacket._

_"You an' that itchy trigger finger of yours…" he growled between desperate kisses that she suddenly found the strength to return herself._

_Relief exploded deep in her chest, dissolving the ache of upset and guilt that had begun there and she raised her uninjured arm, curling it about his neck and holding her to him with the same fierceness that consumed him, closing her eyes so tightly that brilliant white dots sparkled there in the black. Her ears began to ring with the threat of passing out and she wobbled slightly in his arms, now encircling her waist so that he could better hold her to him, so that he could feel more of her pressed against him which somehow made the whole thing feel more real. Her knees buckled again as the dots not only continued to flash but grew and danced in her sight even with her eyes open and blinking._

_"Easy, sweetheart. I got ya now." She heard him soothe and yet his voice sounded a million miles away. Echoing slightly as her vision blurred and her grip upon him slackened and finally unconsciousness overtook her._

_(End Flashback)/_

-oOo-

When she woke again her head had not ceased it's throbbing, but she felt more rested, more coherent than she had been the first time. She didn't remember falling unconscious the second time, but that was of little matter when it was obvious that she had.

She shifted, attempting to move the hand of her uninjured arm up to rub at the pain in her temples but failed. Something held it down, preventing it from moving. Something hot and sweaty was tangled there together with her fingers, anchoring her hand down by her side. Ana that something tightened it's grip as soon as her movement was detected.

"Easy, Sweetheart, where's the fire?" he stated with a sleepy drawl from beside her, accent tinged with an audible sigh of relief, and a hint of delight that she had re-awoken. "Just lie still for a damn minute, huh?"

His fingers released hers from captivity for the briefest of moments and Ana listened as he shuffled across the room ad opened the door with a soft click, announcing to whoever it was outside, she guessed Jack, that she was awake again.

A murmur and hurrying footsteps responded to him as he resumed his place beside her and she hazily made out his features hovering above her own.

"How you feelin', Rambo?" his breath and kiss were hot on her temple, her hand recaptured and secured back between both of his. "You lost a lotta blood out there…what the _hell _were you _thinkin'_!" his voice changed from concern to annoyance in the space of a second, before her sleep smothered brain could properly keep up with his moods, drawing a half hearted frown across her brow.

She squirmed, attempting to sit up, only to be prevented by Sawyer's palm to her wound free shoulder.

"Don't even _think _'bout tryin' to talk your way outta this one, Kamikaze! You coulda _died_ out there! You almost _did_! The Others-"

"Are gone now, Sawyer…" Jack's voice broke in, soothingly and Ana watched as the tall doctor cam into her peripheral view, patting the Southerner's shoulder. "Take it easy on her, alright?" he raised his eyebrows until Sawyer nodded his consent, jaw clenching a little even so at the reprimand. "Ana saved us all. If she hadn't started moving everyone from the beach when she had, we'd all be dead or taken right now."

Ana managed a strangled sounding snort from where she lay at Jack's speech, cutting off any sarcastic retort Sawyer had been about to shoot at the doctor, and fending his hand away from where it still lay restricting upon her shoulder.

She tried to sit up again, spurring both men into motion that time, scrambling to help her and prop her upright in the bed of the hatch.

"I did what anyone would have done." She brushed it away, wincing at the twinges of pain in her leg and shoulder as she straightened herself out and permitted Sawyer's hand to retake hers yet again. He seemed almost as desperate to touch her as she had been when she'd thought she shot him.

After a few long moments pause and deep breaths, steeling herself against the wave of fatigue that washed over her despite having just woken, she locked her eyes onto Jack's.

"How many made it?"

Jack's eyes turned sombre at her query and Sawyer's free hand moved up to cup the back of her head, smoothing across her hair comfortingly.

"Ana, maybe now's not the best time to-" Jack began.

"How many!" she repeated, louder and stronger than she had felt in a long time. Her dark brown eyes held Jack's fiercely until he glanced away and shook his head.

"Three people died…" he replied and Ana took a deep breath, holding it in for a long moment before exhaling. "Scott died before we got there. Gary and Mark were injured seriously. I did everything I could to help them…they died yesterday morning…"

Ana nodded and a heavy-hearted silence fell across the three of them in remembrance of the ones who had fallen at the hands of the Others. Ana just thanked God that they hadn't been able to take anyone else. No matter how many of them there had been, they'd not been able to get close enough to the cave entrance to be able to get a hold of anyone.

"What about Kate…?" she queried in a low voice, wondering how her comrade had fared and Jack's eyebrows raised suddenly as he and Sawyer shared a confused, slightly bemused glance.

"She's okay. Nothing more than a scraped knee…" he responded warily and Ana chuckled, lying her head back against her pillows and closing her eyes.

"That girl's got a luck horseshoe up her ass!" she snorted, chuckling until the pain it caused in her limbs made her stop and sigh. She always had been an impatient healer.

"Sooooo," Sawyer drawled out, clearing his throat finally, breaking the silence and shooting a glance up at Jack's face. "How's my girl here doin'?" he queried with a smirk curling his lips up at the corner. He gave her hand a teasing tug, drawing her eyes back open in irritation. "She ready to go back down to the beach again yet? I got my heart set on some good, old-fashioned make-up sex in the near future." he waggled his eyebrows at her, ignoring the uncomfortable flush that spread across the doctor's features and Ana managed a rather harmless thump against Sawyer's shoulder with her good arm's hand as he tried to lower his mouth down towards hers.

"You're gonna be waiting a _long_ time, Cowboy." She growled with narrowed eyes and scowl alike, though a smile tugged at her own mouth. "I feel like I've been hit by a _truck_!"

But Sawyer merely chuckled at her, standing from his seat and moving from Jack's way as the other man set about replacing Ana's bandages.

"People are back on the beach?" she queried, changing the subject and refusing to give Sawyer the pleasure of seeing her unable to keep her eyes from his form. Three nights really had been too long for them to be apart it seemed. She coughed, focusing pointedly upon Jack's concentration filled face as he took the seat at her side and he nodded absently, not glancing up from his task at hand.

"They are." He confirmed verbally. "From what Sawyer said they did to their laboratory, they've got enough problems of their own to be concerned-"

"Had us a bonfire!" Sawyer injected, cutting the doctor off much to Jack's disgruntlement. "Toasted some marshmallows…Sang a few songs…Male bonding!" he trailed off with a wave of his hand and Jack rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"We still have armed watches set up around the campsite…just in-"

"Besides!" Sawyer interrupted again, grinning widely at the deathly glare being aimed at him by the other man. "How many o' them _unfortunate _sonsabitches got caught in your crosshairs, huh, Hotlips?"

Ana shrugged, mentally shuddering at the memories, not entirely whole and remembered fully from the attack at the caves fluttered through her mind.

"Six, maybe seven…" she hazarded a guess, murmuring in confusion and Sawyer looked triumphant.

"Baby, there's only _twenty_ of 'em all put together and dear old Scott, Gary and Mark took a fair ol' count of three out between 'em, before they…" he trailed off, not wishing to remind them all that while they were happy and joking, three men were dead and buried. "And Freckles got a rather respectable count of four as well." He continued, though less jokingly than when he'd started.

Ana frowned at him suddenly, cocking one eyebrow dubiously and folding her arms.

"How d'you know how many of them there are?" she demanded and Sawyer grinned from where he'd taken up residence at the foot of her bed while Jack worked.

"'Cause, _Smarty-pants_, Captain Falafell got a hold of some more of their maps back in their little club house, sneaky little bstard he is…" he shook his head and snorted before continuing. "And on those maps, Darlin', they kept a track of how many employees they had workin' in each of their little hatches." He finished looking altogether too smug for his own good, folding his own arms across his chest and grinning down at her.

"I think it's not too optimistic to say that we're pretty safe from them now, thanks to you and the rescue party." Jack concluded and with those words he finished retying her fresh bandages and gave her knee a gently reassuring squeeze before standing and stepping away, changing the subject once more and diplomatically. "Give it another day or so before you let this _Red Neck _drag you back down to the beach caveman style." He smirked, hitching his thumb at Sawyer who considered him through wary, slitted eyes. "He's on button duty anyway and I thought you two might have some…catching up to do before you rejoin the community." The doctor offered her a rather out of character wink and grin, causing her own smile to spread fully across her lips as he headed for the door. "Don't forget about that computer, _Sawyer_…" he warned the conman who had taken the seat at Ana's side the very moment that it had been vacated and Sawyer grumbled a _'yeah, yeah'_ after him as the door closed, leaving them alone for the first time since she'd woken.

The blonde haired man kept his stare upon the edge of her blankets, fidgeting slightly with the seam, picking at it with his fingernails.

"So…how you feelin'?" he queried low and sincere after a long, slightly nervous pause and Ana took pity on him in his never before shown to her tenseness. She covered his fiddling hand with the good one of her own, drawing his eyes up to meet hers. Blue, just like she remembered them.

"I'm sorry," she stated, ignoring his question and shifting a little in discomfort, gaze lancing sideways and away from his suddenly to where their hands lay together. "About not telling you _'goodbye' _before you left…" she paused to cough again, her throat as dry as a desert after so long without use. "And what happened the night before that…" she trailed off again and Sawyer turned his hand suddenly beneath hers, in reply, locking their fingers together, giving a reassuring squeeze of comfort in reciprocation of her words. A gesture so unlike the cocky Sawyer she knew.

"I know y'all didn't mean it, Darlin'," he replied finally, running his free hand back through his lengthening blonde hair to rest at the back of his neck, his gaze flitting away from hers as if he was somehow embarrassed. Definitely not the Sawyer she knew. "And for what it's worth, it was all _my_ fault anyways. _I_ made that mess…_I'm_ the sorry one."

A less awkward paused followed their admittance to one another, one in which Ana released a sigh of relief and settled back against her pillows, a little more at ease. A little more relaxed. A little more believing that they were both actually out of danger and that they were together again. Reunited and reconciled.

"So…" his voice broke the silence, drawing open her eyes that that she hadn't realised that she had closed. He shifted beneath her watch nervously again, scrubbing at the back of his neck this time and almost wincing at what he was about to ask her. "Did…did Freckles get that…ah, _book_ back to you alright?" his down turned eyes dared a glance up at her to see her reaction to his words, to see if any recognition sparked there in her eyes, but Ana had been well trained on the police force to mask her emotions when the need arose.

"Yeah," she responded calmly, though her heart suddenly raced in her chest.

The pair of them lapsed into another silence until it was her turn to break it with a query, seeing as Sawyer had suddenly lost his tongue.

"Did you mean it?"

Sawyer looked at her properly then for the first time in long moments, searching her face and that time Ana permitted a smile to creep onto her features. Ever so slightly.

"Did I mean _what_ exactly, Precious?" he countered, his own sly teasing appearing in his smug grin and narrowed eyes.

He knew what she meant but he was going to make her say it and spell it out for him. He was going to make her him properly about the letter he had sent back to her in the safety of Watership Down and Kate's hands. That was fine by her. Just fine. She was too tired to play his games at the moment anyway. Or perhaps it was her relief at being with him again after they had both cheated death and the odds out of two more bodies for the count.

"Did you mean what you wrote about having actually found someone you love more than yourself?" she queried, smile gone now, serious again. She had to know straight, one way or the other. Had it been the heat of the moment talking? When had thought he'd never see her again? Had he changed his mind and verdict now that they were sitting face-to-face once more?

But Sawyer's grin lost it's cockiness, becoming smaller and somewhat shy as he focused upon their clasped hands focal point yet again.

"Whadda _you_ think?" he answered with his own enquiry and Ana-Lucia could tell by the tint in his southern accent, from the light in his sapphire eyes that he had meant every word that he had written to her.

"I think," she began, tugging her hand from his only so she could raise his chin, and gaze to meet hers again, by laying it against his cheek. "That I love you too, James."

-oOo-


	25. Epilogue

Well, this is it. The end. Finally I've gotten here after so long of writing it. After blood, sweat, tears and broken down computers I'm finally here. I can't believe it. I don't think it's quite sunken into my thick skull yet.

Wow...the end.

I want to thank you all for reading this, for bearing with me in my random posting times and computer difficulties. For putting up with all my stupid cliffhangers and teasings. I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it and coming up with it for you.To everyone who has ever posted a comment, left a review or even just read this, THANK YOU! You don't know how much it means to me!

Disclaimer: I'm finished, but I still don't own it. Le sigh

Without further ado...here it is.

(...I think I might cry now...)

**Epilogue.**

Ana-Lucia had done as the doctor had instructed her, even though she only just managed it. She'd never been one to wallow in self-pity through injury or illness. She'd never been one of those people who would run to their local doctor for every cut, sniffle and bruise.

But Sawyer had refused to let her get out of the hatch bed for anything other than toilet issues, threatening to call Jack back from the beach if she didn't stop trying to get up while he went to push the computer button.

Eventually, however, when her infuriated smacks to his shoulder had begun getting more forceful as the second day stuck in the hatch had worn on, eventually drawing an exclamation of pain from him, Sawyer had deemed her well enough to make the journey back to the beach.

She had grasped his hand fiercely. Vice tight, So hard that his knuckles had felt as if they were going to explode, bones fit to pop out of their sockets. But he had let her, grateful for the pain that she inflicted upon him, for it proved to him that she really was alright. Still alive and that they were finally back together again.

He had offered to carry her, but the dangerous look in her eyes had stopped him mid-sentence. He had wanted to curl his arm about her shoulders to keep her steady and safe, but she had shrugged him away, too independent to let him baby her. She wanted to make it on her own steam. She needed to do it herself, though he'd been able to see clearly on her face how it had pained and exhausted her to do so.

He hadn't, however, given her the chance to protest when he had taken her forearm and wedged it securely between his elbow and his side, locking their fingers, effectively linking them together and offering her the support that he needed to give her, while still allowing her the independence that she so desired.

Eventually they had made it down to the beach, breaking through the tree line and into the community, but instead of being met by harsh glares and whispers, wary glances and hissed comments like they had suffered last time they had stepped onto the white sands pulling their combined belongings behind them on a makeshift sled, they were met with smiles and waves and many, many cries of thanks.

"Did everyone get knocked in the head while I was out of it?" Ana had hissed sideways to Sawyer as they made their way slowly through them all to the safety and privacy of their own home, but he had merely chuckled and told her to get use to it.

"We're flavour of the month now, Darlin'," he beamed. "That's what happens when you do somethin' heroic like and almost get yourself killed in the process."

And they had left it at that.

She listened to him beside her then as she lay there, the morning after their bizarre return to the shelter they had built together, something good out of all their trials and tribulations.

She heard as his breathing changed and he woke slowly from the deep sleep of a weary man. One who finally felt safe enough to rest himself fully.

He breathed deeply through his nose, raising a hand to scratch idly as his tanned, bare chest and Ana allowed herself a smile. She loved hearing him wake up beside her. They'd been apart only three nights, not including the three following that when she had been unconscious with her injuries in the hatch, and even so it had felt like a lifetime. She just hadn't realised how much she had missed him during that time.

He coughed out into the silence of their shelter, a last reminded of all those cigarettes he had smoked in another life, before the crash had forced him to kick the habit. Sitting up slowly, he scrubbed at his tired eyes with a scuffed and scratched knuckle, running a hand through his hair and itching his sun-scorched and sand invaded scalp.

And Ana reached out suddenly with the hand of her uninjured arm, to smooth it up his tanned expanse of back, muscles twitching beneath her feather-light touch until his still sleepy brain realised, causing him to jump at the sudden contact, of skin on skin, when he'd thought she had been sleeping. He turned to glance down at her, still blinking blearily into the light.

"Didn't wake you, did I, Sugar?" he queried, voice deep from slumber and lack of use and hushed in the early morning but Ana shook her head in response.

"Been awake for a while." She lied, waving Sawyer's comments that _'she should've woken him' _away. In actual fact she'd not been awake for just a while. She'd been unable to sleep the entire night through, incapable of finding a position comfortable enough to sleep in. The wounds to both her leg and her shoulder prevented her from rolling onto either of her sides or front and she'd never been able to sleep on her back. And so she had resorted to staring at the dark blue shadows playing across the ceiling, listening with envy to Sawyer's snoring.

He leaned back on an elbow facing her on his side and propping his head up on his hand. Fingertips trailed from her hair down her face, smoothing across her cheek and tracing her neck to her shoulder, brushing lightly up and down her arm enough to make a shiver chase it's way in a corkscrew down her stiff back.

"I'm glad you're back." She murmured finally, stopping to yawn even as she spoke, betraying how tired she actually still was after her ordeal.

Sawyer gave a light snort at her words.

"_I'm_ glad you're _alive_!" he responded, mimicking her as he watched her face closely. "I nearly had me a _heart-attack _when that damn Others woman said they was fixin' to get rid of you…"

Ana's smile grew wider and somewhat smug at the Southerner's revelation that he had feared for her safety.

"Were you worried about me, Stud?" she teased and again he snorted in reply, covering his confession with a gruff cough.

"Well, yeah!" he responded incredulously. "And I was _damn_ right to be. Look what state you gone got yourself into!" he gestured to the bullet wounds in her shoulder and upper thigh. "What are you? A walkin' _bull's eye _or somethin'?"

Ana rolled her eyes in silent retort and pulled herself upright, still wincing slightly as the skin pulled taut about her injuries.

"Where _you_ goin', Speedy?" he queried from behind her in his lazy drawl, tugging at the back of her shirt to gain her attention.

"To get some water." She countered, feigning impatience. "What? I need your permission now?" she arched a dark eyebrow, glancing back over her shoulder at his semi recumbent form and Sawyer grinned so wide that his dimples flashed at her as he nodded his head.

"'Course you do! An' I say you ain't goin' _nowhere_." He shifted on the blanket covered sand beside her and stood, searching for his jeans and tugging them on hastily, as if he thought she was going to bolt for the doorway and make a bid for freedom at any minute. "_I'll _go get you some water."

Ana shook her head at him, unable to keep the disbelieving chuckle from leaving her lips even as she allowed herself to recline back, propped up on her good elbow.

"James Ford, you are the only man I know who can manage to be a gentleman _and_ a _chauvinistic pig _all at the exact same time!"

And Sawyer, who had stepped through the blue tarp doors of their home out into the sunlight to stretch out muscles still aching from the rescue mission four days previous, popped his head back inside and winked at her.

"What can I say, Darlin'? It's a gift." He chuckled, stooping to retrieve their empty water bottles. "Now don't you go runnin' off anywhere, _Invalid_." He chose to ignore her scowl at the nickname that she had thrown at him so long ago when they had first embarked upon their curious liaison. "I'll be _right_ back."

-oOo-  
It was still early enough that the sun hadn't quite risen fully and broken through the morning mist rolling in grey off the sea. And yet the heat was ever present, even if it wasn't as unbearable as it got during the height of the day.

Sand crunched beneath his bare feet. He hadn't bothered to don either his shoes or his shirt, intending on returning to 'bed' when his little errand had been completed. Plus the breeze was cooling on his skin, a relief after the three long, worry-filled days stuck in the hot, stuffy hatch.

A slow, meandering swagger through the small spattering of cobbled together tents to where the community had set up a bamboo trough to collect the rainwater when it fell, brought the only other person out and about at such an obscene hour of the morning into his view.

Filled plastic bottles of water littered the ground at her feet, but still she stood, staring out at the seascape painted grey and orange and pink by the slowly rising sun.

She had lots on her mind then, Sawyer guessed moving quietly up behind her. For her to stay put in one place for longer than a gnat's heartbeat proved as much to him. So did her unawareness of his approach.

"Well, howdy, Stranger," he chuckled from behind the distracted brunette, causing her to start at the sound of his voice and break from her daydream. "Long time no see, Freckles."

Tired green eyes flashed up to meet his and she responded with an unimpressed smile and arched eyebrow.

"It's only been three days, Sawyer." She informed him with a shake of her loose brown curls that she paused to brush behind her ears securely.

"Ah, but you forget, Sugar," the conman countered, swaggering up beside her fully and unscrewing the bottle caps from his and Ana's containers. "Three days Mystery Island time is like…thirty years _regular_ time."

Kate couldn't help but chuckle at that bizarre and yet somehow seemingly true notion, shaking her head again as she watched Sawyer stoop to begin collection what he'd come out for.

Water gurgling and bubbling into the plastic bottle filled the silence between them for a long moment, until Sawyer stood straight again and permitted himself a long draught of the slightly warm liquid.

"So, how's things?" Kate queried suddenly, loosely folding her arms about herself. Her eyes flickered past him to the little blue tent on the edge of the beach _'village' _and the tree line. The tent in which Ana-Lucia was waiting, possibly impatiently, for him to return with his '_shopping_'.

Sawyer followed her gaze and gave a brief snort of amusement.

"_Things_," he drew out the word to let her know exactly who they were talking about. "Are fine, Freckles. _Better_ than fine, actually." He turned again, eyes fixed upon his shelter with a pleased grin. "She's on the mend. Got shot up pretty bad, but she's a fighter."

"Don't I know it!" Kate shot back, snapping his gaze back to her in a split second of concern until he saw the smirk twist at the edges of her lips. "I'm glad she's okay. Tell her I was asking after her, okay? And that I'll come by later to see how she's doing."

Sawyer blinked at the slim woman in confusion, scratching at his head with his free hand, eyebrows arched dubiously.

"Since when did you and Girlfight start playin' _nice_ together, huh?"he demanded, his laugh one of disbelief, of complete and utter shock as if Kate had just sprouted a second head from her left ear.

But Kate merely laughed herself and shook her head enigmatically telling him that she wasn't going to tell him anything. He made a mental note to interrogate Ana about that little development later in the day.

She stooped suddenly to collect her own water bottles, turning to glance in the direction of her own shared shelter and Sawyer followed her gaze once more, snorting in amusement as he did.

"Don't tell me," he sniggered, leaning in towards her conspiratorially. "You drugged him _again_, didn't you?"

Green eyes widened guiltily as she spun to face him, but she relaxed, seeing the laughter dancing in his blue eyes instead of disapproval.

"Now what makes you say that?" Kate replied finally, even though her smile was still somewhat sheepish.

"Maybe 'cause he's in there _sleepin'_ instead of runnin' round the beach like a blue-assed fly." Sawyer retorted and she conceded the point with a chuckle and nod.

"He'd work himself to an early grave unless I did something about it." She defended and Sawyer raised his free hand in the gesture of surrender.

"I don't doubt it for a second. S'a good job you're as sneaky as you are, Freckles. Where would Jumpin' Jack Flash be without you?"

And Kate blushed, turning her face to study the ground. It was still somewhat uncomfortable talking about their current partners with someone who they could've been romantically involved with had things turned out differently. She shifted, feet shuffling in the sand slightly as she moved in awkwardness.

"Anyway," she muttered, clearing her throat. "I better, y'know, get back," she hitched her thumb over her shoulder at the tent where Jack lay sedated and finally resting. "He's gonna _kill_ me when he wakes up."

"I'll be wantin' tickets for _that_ fight." Sawyer teased, earning him a glare of feigned annoyance. "Take it easy, Katie."

"You too, Sawyer." She returned and with another brief nod at each other they began in their separate directions…until Kate paused and called out one last time. "Hey Sawyer?"

He turned, eyebrows raised in inquiry and she chuckled to herself, smile wider and more genuine than he had seen it in a long time. She hefted her bottles a little higher into her grasp.

"Tell Ana-Lucia that she still owes me that crazy-ass story!"

Sawyer opened his mouth to demand what the heck she was going on about until a cry went up from Jin, who'd obviously gone down to the waters edge to check his fishing nets during the course of their conversation. He waved an arm at them, trying to gain their attention and send their stares out to sea…

"Well I'll be _damned_…"

-oOo-  
She'd just managed to drift into sleep, only just managed to get herself comfortable, basking in the peace, in the cool morning air and the respite from Sawyer's snoring…when he thrashed back into the shelter, dropping the water bottles to the floor and himself to his knees beside her.

"Ana!" he called, grabbing her uninjured shoulder with a shockingly cold, still wet hand, snapping her out of any vestiges of sleep that she had been under. "Ana get up!"

"What!" she growled, fending his hand away and blinking up at him blearily through a frown. "Damn it, I just got to-"

"You'll thank me for this, Darlin', I promise you." He responded, speaking over her, much to her annoyance.

"This _better_ be good." She muttered beneath her breath as he stood again and swished back out through the tarps of their doorway.

So help her God she'd give him an earful if this was all some_ crazy _joke concocted by his _crazy_ redneck mind…

A blast of the sea breeze hit her square in the face as she managed to struggle to her feet and duck her own way out onto the beach, eyes searching and fixing upon Sawyer, waiting for her. His own eyes sent out to the ocean.

"James?" she queried, scrubbing at her eyes as they adjusted to the brightness of the sunlight. "Sawyer? You wanna tell me what the hell's going-"

Sawyer's arm curled about her shoulder suddenly, taking her by surprise as he pointed down the length of the golden sands to where people where gathering knee deep at the waters edge.

"Look who's back in town, Hotlips." He beamed, sending her gaze out a little further into the azure blue to the rickety boat that she'd been too tired, and too annoyed, to notice.

"Is that _Michael_?" she questioned, suddenly forgetting that she was exhausted and Sawyer had just awakened her so rudely. She took a few steps forwards, hand shading her eyes, but Sawyer's arm stayed firmly secured about her shoulder as he moved with her.

"Yeah, I reckon." He drawled with a suddenly mischievous grin. "And your pal Eko too…but I think there's someone _else_ on that there boat who wants to see you. _Two_ of 'em actually."

Her eyebrows quirked in confusion as she considered his altogether too smug face and he directed them both in a slow stroll down the heating sands to the congregation.

And then a familiar voice rose over the crashing waves and the chatter already going on as Michael and the boy who was obviously his son, Walt, disembarked and waded their way on land, embracing people and smiling and laughing as they went.

"Ana! The voice cried, joined by another similar, though a little younger than the first. "Ana! Ana-Lucia!"

And Ana felt the tears sting in the corners of her eyes as they fell upon the two grinning, happy faces of the two children she had promised to protect. Her grip about Sawyer's waist tightened suddenly, drawing strength from his presence beside her.

"Oh my God…" she couldn't utter anything else as Eko leaped down into the waves and lifted them both after him, setting them on their feet as soon as he reached water shallow enough for them. "You found them…"

But she was already moving towards them before Sawyer could reply. She was already dropping to her knees before them and reaching out, touching their faces, brushing back their blonde hair so that she could see them more clearly and confirm to herself that they were real. They were alive. They were alright and they were right there before her.

"We knew you'd be alright, Ana." Emma giggled and Zack nodded at her side fervently agreeing with his sister's comment. "We told Sawyer you would, but he was silly and got all worried." The little girl lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I think he _likes_ you, you know."

And Ana laughed, through her tears of happiness and relief, pulling them close into a desperate embrace, not caring about the twinges of pain in her shoulder and leg. Not caring about the sand and seawater soaking her jeans.

"You think?" she queried, grinning, drawing away from the children just enough so that she could glance back at the Southerner stood behind them, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans as he watched them, scuffing a toe in the sand. "You know what? I think I like him too."

The End  
-oOo-  
CriesSobsSniffles

Well, onwards, what?;) How's about that sequel... 


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